The Ministry of Foreign Affairs claims that it did not seek the deportation of Bi-2 musicians to Russia

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia asserts that the Russian authorities are not involved in the detention in Thailand of the musicians of the Russian rock group “Bi-2” and the demands for their deportation to Russia. Publications on this topic were called “a complete fake” by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia.

The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the musicians were detained in Phuket for violating the immigration law, and the decision to arrest them was initiated by the Thai authorities. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia claims that on January 31, employees of the Russian consulate, having received a notification from the authorities of Thailand about the detention of Russian citizens, quickly arrived at the temporary detention center in Bangkok, but the participants of “Bi-2” “absolutely refused” to communicate.

However, according to the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the musicians, by their own admission, “welcomed the assistance of the US State Department, American senators, German, Polish, Lithuanian diplomats and other persons.”

All the musicians of the Russian rock group “Bi-2”, who were in an immigration prison in Thailand, were deported to Israel on January 31. Israeli diplomats managed to agree on the release and deportation to Israel of three musicians who do not have any other citizenship, except Russian. The Russian embassy in Bangkok insisted that they could only be deported to Russia.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said that Russian journalists were not allowed to attend a press conference organized by Israeli diplomats. “This indicates that the organizers of such a show are afraid of exposure,” said the statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia, published on the official telegram channel of the ministry. At the same time, the Russian Foreign Ministry emphasized that they understand “the requests of Israeli diplomats to demonstrate the possibility of releasing, if not the hostages, then the musicians.”

• Musicians of the group “Bi-2” were detained on January 24 after a concert in Phuket. The local court imposed fines on them for performing without work visas, however, after that, the team members were not released, but sent to a temporary detention center for subsequent deportation.
• One of the founders of “Bi-2” Egor Bortnyk (Lyova Bi-2) connected the detention of members of the rock group in Thailand with a new campaign of persecution of dissidents in Russia. He stated this in an interview with the Russian service “BBC” shortly after his return to Israel from Thailand.
• After the start of the war in Ukraine, “Bi-2” recorded several anti-war songs. The members of the group moved to Israel. In May of last year, the Ministry of Justice of Russia entered Yegor Bortnyk into the register of “foreign agents”.
• Problems with entry or with concert activities in countries such as the UAE, Indonesia and Thailand have recently begun to appear for a number of Russian musicians or artists recognized in Russia as “foreign agents” or who opposed the war.
• The Bloomberg agency, citing two sources, reported on Thursday that the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs is behind the persecution of musicians who oppose the war in Russia’s “friendly” countries. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, according to the agency, ordered Russian diplomats to do this.
• Russian opposition politician Dmitry Gudkov told in an interview with “Nastoyasche Vremena” that the Consul General of Russia in Thailand, Vladimir Sosnov, is personally trying to deport the “Bi-2” musicians, who entered Phuket on Russian passports, specifically to Russia. At the beginning of January, the concerts of Ruslan Bely and Maksym Galkin, who opposed the war in Ukraine, were also canceled in Thailand. According to unofficial data, this was done at the personal request of the Russian consul.
• As a result of the Hamas attack on the south of Israel on October 7, 2023, at least 240 people, including Russians, were taken hostage and transported to the Gaza Strip. To date, the Israeli authorities have managed to return 130 hostages.