On Sakhalin, a deputy from “ER” demands to paint over graffiti with Zemfira

Aleksandr Sharyfulin, a deputy of the Sakhalin Regional Duma and a member of United Russia, demanded to paint over the graffiti with the singer Zemfirai. He wrote about this in his Telegram channel. Earlier, Zemfira spoke out against the war in Ukraine. Recently, she was included by the Russian authorities in the register of “foreign agents”, the Ministry of Justice directly named her anti-war speeches as one of the reasons for this decision.

Zemfira’s portrait is painted on the wall of the transformer substation, which is located on Emelyanova Street in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk. He appeared there in July 2019.

Sharyfulin believes that since the beginning of the war, “some stars of the Russian stage began to make not only vile, but also openly anti-state statements.”

“These people have been corrupting the minds of the younger generation for years by broadcasting perverted Western presentations about life, earning colossal fortunes and not bearing any responsibility. One such example is Zemfira, a once popular singer who repeatedly publicly spoke out against the country and its army,” said the deputy .

Sharyfulin’s words were reprinted by publications connected to the deputy. A vote was announced, in which the residents were asked to decide whether to leave the picture or draw another one “in the spirit of the times, in the spirit of our country and region.” So far, 36% of those who voted were in favor of the graffiti, and 41% believe that Zemfira should be removed.

As Sibir.Realii writes, the graffiti was a housewarming gift.

“My friend moved to a new apartment, and her windows looked directly onto this building. The view was very depressing – a typical mud wall, painted with mats, pasted over with old advertisements. Therefore, I decided to order graffiti. I turned to the guys from the association of artists. We chose a portrait of Zemfira, my friend is a big fan of her. They came up with a funny phrase. I don’t remember how much I paid for the work. Like 30,000 rubles. I’m in shock now. There are thousands of terrible fences and walls in the city, but they started the war with a picture that made people smile. How angry and you need to be zombified in order to start such a thing,” said the graffiti customer Elena.

A resident of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, who received the graffiti, said that she was very upset, but not surprised.

“I’m sad, but I’m sure that the portrait will be painted over. This is not the first time. We had graffiti with Semyon Slepakov in our city. He was painted over a long time ago. The reason is still the same – “cleaning the “Augian stables” of domestic culture”, – anonymous she commented.

• On February 9, the Ministry of Justice of Russia updated the single register of “foreign agents”, the singer Zemfira Ramazanova was included among the others. She was recognized as a “foreign agent” for supporting Ukraine, “concert activities in unfriendly countries” with anti-war performances and support from “foreign sources”.
• Legislation on “foreign agents” in Russia appeared in 2012. The law allowed the Ministry of Justice to recognize non-profit organizations as “foreign agents” if they receive funding from abroad and are engaged in, from the authorities’ point of view, political activity.
• From December 1, 2022, anyone who is under “foreign influence” can be declared a foreign agent.
• According to “Vyorstka”, criminal cases have been opened against 18% of all “foreign agents” in Russia. The most popular article for the persecuted is about the spread of fakes, that is, obviously false information, about the actions of the Russian army. The Russian authorities can recognize as fakes any statements different from the official ones declared by the Ministry of Defense.