Public figures in russia continue to face substantial pressure to display overt support for the war in Ukraine. This week, it was reported that russian pop star Filipp Kirkorov performed and visited wounded soldiers in temporarily occupied parts of Ukraine. Filipp Kirkorov had reportedly been blacklisted by the Kremlin following public scandal, the UK Defense Intelligence reports.
Russian media reported that, in early February, a renewed blacklist of 50 artists had been circulated by the Presidential Administration to russian concert promoters, effectively banning them from performing in russia. This list included public opponents of the war alongside others such as Filipp Kirkorov – who had provoked the ire of the Kremlin for other reasons.
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The aftermath of the party scandal demonstrates the increasingly pervasive presence of the war in public life. The Kremlin almost certainly intentionally amplified and exploited the scandal, seeking to portray a contrast between russians “patriotically” supporting the war effort and a hedonistic “Westernised” metropolitan elite. One attendee was jailed, fined under so-called LGBT propaganda laws, and served with a summons to a military conscription office.
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