Legendary Russian rocker Andrei Makarevich has had three concerts canceled following a tour in Ukraine and public criticism of Moscow's role in the conflict there. From our newsroom:
Representatives of a restaurant in the Kazan, capital of Russia's Tatarstan region, said on September 12 that a Makarevich concert scheduled for September 27 had been canceled for "organizational reasons." Last week, performances scheduled for September 19 and 26 in the Volga River city of Samara were called off for what the venues said were "technical reasons."
Makarevich, frontman of the band Mashina Vremeni (Time Machine) since the Soviet era, has come under a hail of criticism from pro-Kremlin media.
In Ukraine last month, he gave concerts for refugees from the eastern part of the country, where government forces have been fighting pro-Russian separatists Kyiv and the West says are backed by Russian soldiers and supplied with Russian weapons. Russia denies it.
His new song, "My Country Has Gone Mad," went viral in the Internet in recent weeks.
Based on reporting by ITAR-TASS and bileton.ru
Here's our recent piece by @BalmforthTom chronicling the abuse Makarevich has faced since performing for Ukrainian IDPs:
Russian Rocker Called A 'Traitor' For Performing For IDPs In Ukraine
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