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Aleksandr “Schura” Uman and Yegor “Ljowa” Bortnik from the band Bi-2 (in December 2011 in Moscow)
Photo: Pavel Golovkin / AP
The members of the Kremlin-critical Russian-Belarusian rock band Bi-2 are free again and have left Thailand for Israel. "All musicians from the group Bi-2 have safely left Thailand and are on their way to Tel Aviv," it said on the band's official Facebook page. This ends fears that the band members, several of whom also have Israeli passports and two of whom are no longer Russian citizens, could be deported to Russia and persecuted there.
The seven musicians are critical of Russian President Vladimir Putin and the war in Ukraine. Last week they were arrested after a concert on the popular Thai holiday island of Phuket and said they were taken to the immigration prison in the capital Bangkok. Local authorities said the musicians performed without the necessary work permits. The media initially reported that the musicians were to be deported to Russia.
Concert organizer VPI Event explained that all necessary permits had been obtained for the musicians, but that the band had been issued tourist visas in error. On Tuesday evening, one of the band's founders - Yegor "Ljowa" Bortnik - had already flown to Israel, as the band announced, while the rest of the group initially remained in a migration prison.
The human rights organization Human Rights Watch (HRW) warned that the tape would risk “persecution” if it returned to Russia. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Marija Zakharova accused the group of “supporting terrorism.”
Band left Russia after concert cancellations
The Belarusian opposition leader Svetlana Tichanowskaya, who lives in exile, expressed concern about the “situation of the Belarus-born rock band Bi-2” on the online platform X. She called on Thailand to find “a solution” to “ensure the freedom of the band.” It is “absolutely clear” that Russia is behind the effort to deport the band.
Green MP in the European Parliament Sergey Lagodinsky also expressed concern in an interview with SPIEGEL: Moscow wanted to show that it has a long arm that reaches far beyond its borders, he said.
Bi-2 is a very well-known band in Russia. In 2022, several of the group's concerts were canceled after the band members refused to perform in a hall where banners supporting Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine were hanging. The band subsequently left Russia. One of the band members expressed "disgust" with the Russian government and accused Putin of "destroying" Russia.
col/AFP/dpa