The SBU suspects Chicherina of war propaganda and other crimes

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) reported that it officially suspects Russian singer Yulia Chicherina of war propaganda, encroachment on Ukraine’s territorial integrity and approval of Russian aggression, as well as illegal border crossing.

As stated in the SBU message, in January 2023, the singer recorded a video appeal “Banderovtsy, surrender.” In it, Chicherina called on Ukrainian soldiers to surrender to Russian captivity, while threatening those who do not surrender with “incarceration in Russian concentration camps in Siberia.” In addition, it is claimed that Chicherina gave a concert in the village of Elenovka in the occupied part of the Donetsk region, during which she called on local residents to join the Russian army.

The message noted that Chicherina faces up to life imprisonment. However, her suspicions were announced in absentia, as she is at large.

Back in March 2022, an investigation was launched against Chicheryna in Ukraine after she removed the Ukrainian flag from the city hall building in the occupied Energodar in the Zaporozhye region and raised the so-called victory flag – a copy of the red flag raised in 1945 over the German Reichstag.

Chicherina, who gained fame in the early 2000s as a rock singer, became one of the first Russian artists to support the separatists since the beginning of the conflict in Donbass. She performed in the so-called “DPR” and “LPR”, filmed videos there and made strongly anti-Ukrainian statements. She actively supported the large-scale invasion in 2022. Last fall, Vladimir Putin awarded Chicherina the title of Honored Artist of Russia.