Russian President Vladimir Putin stated the need to establish the reasons for mass cancellations of concerts in the regions. The country's leader said this at a meeting with the Council for the Development of Civil Society and Human Rights. Tatyana Moskalkova, the Commissioner for Human Rights in Russia, told journalists about Putin’s order.

“It turns out that this is not an isolated problem, but, apparently, quite repetitive. And for the president this was also a new question, he said that it was necessary to find out the reasons, ”the Ombudsman noted.

She also stressed that on December 10 she sent the relevant request to the prosecutor’s office and at the moment has only the “most general” information.

Earlier, Moskalkova urged not to interfere with concerts of artists who "do not advocate extremist positions, do not incite national strife, do not perform songs that could harm society."

At the same time, the Ombudsman declared that "it would be good to meet with the guys from these groups," and promised to "sort out this situation."

Round table

On Thursday, December 6, a round table was held in the State Duma - it was attended by deputies, employees of relevant departments, as well as musicians and other representatives of the initiative group.

The meeting was attended by video blogger Dmitry Larin and rappers Ptah and Zhigan (they had no problems with concert activities). According to Larin, those performers who were faced with the cancellation of performances were invited to the meeting, but for one reason or another they did not come to the round table.

Later, the head of the Youth Parliament, Maria Voropaeva, who also took part in the round table, spoke about the possibility of creating a commission or an expert council on culture, which could deal with such cases. According to her, this proposal came from the musicians themselves.

Ptah called this development "the ideal option." From his point of view, it is necessary to create “not a punitive body”, but a “kind of buffer”, whose decisions will have legal force.

As Larin explained, we are talking about analyzing and, if necessary, appealing against the results of a psycholinguistic examination, which is carried out in relation to the creativity of musicians. He stressed that he considers it extremely subjective, since the decision is made only by "two experts: a psychologist and a linguist."

On December 7, presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov, in a conversation with media representatives, said that the Kremlin was “very closely” following developments.

In turn, the first deputy head of the Presidential Administration, Sergei Kiriyenko, called the practice of canceling concerts "stupid."

“We need to be able to work with modern youth culture, so that it does not happen that someone does not accidentally understand or don’t like it, but ends with banning concerts. This is nonsense, ”he said. In addition, Kiriyenko stressed the need for "the ability to work" with the Internet environment.

The situation was commented on in the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The ministry announced their innocence abolishing concerts. Deputy head of the ministry, Igor Zubov, stated that “there were no instructions” regarding the cancellation of cultural events, and it is necessary to conduct separate checks to find out the reasons “in each case”.

"If the prosecutor's office instructs us, we will conduct an inspection to that effect," concluded Zubov.

On December 11, the chairman of the State Duma Committee on Culture, Elena Yampolskaya, recalled the possibility of putting marks on the age limit on event posters. At the same time she called the bans of concerts meaningless.

“I don’t understand why they (concerts - RT ) are forbidden. If "18+" is worth it, then there are no problems ... Marking should be put. I also think that if there is profanity, then you should put "18+". To clear your conscience, ”she said.

Frustrated performances

Systematic problems with concert activity began with musicians in the middle of autumn 2018. The first to encounter this was rapper Husky. According to the staff of the regional clubs, the sites began to receive recommendations not to carry out the planned activities.

Soon, Frendzon and Ic3peak ran into a similar situation, then rappers Aljey, GONE.Fludd and other artists.

In a number of cases, performances could be held - by raising the age limit or finding alternative venues. Several times already going concerts were interrupted, and the venues were de-energized.

On November 21, after the breakdown of the concert in Krasnodar, Husky went out to the fans who had gathered at the club, climbed onto the hood of a car parked nearby and began to perform the song “Ay. He was almost immediately detained by police officers. As a result, the rapper was accused of disorderly conduct and arrested for 12 days. A few days later, the court’s decision was able to appeal, and the musician was released. After that, the performer canceled the remaining six November concerts, but he assured that the performances scheduled for December in St. Petersburg, Moscow and Arkhangelsk will take place.

On November 26, the day of his release from custody, the rappers Oxxxymiron, Basta and Noize MC held a concert in support of Husky and other artists in the capital.

On December 1, in Novosibirsk, Ic3peak musicians were detained at the exit of the train and taken to the police station. As it turned out later, they were interviewed and released. The concert scheduled for this date has not been canceled.

On December 6, in Voronezh, Ic3peak also had problems with performing a performance - according to media reports, in the kitchen of the club, where artists were supposed to perform, alleged violations were found. The concert lasted 35 minutes. Performances in Krasnodar on the 7th and in Rostov-on-Don on the 8th were held without obstacles.

December 8 announced the cancellation of the remaining concerts of the tour group Frendzon.