UFA, Russia -- Yury Shevchuk, leader and frontman of DDT, one of Russia's most popular rock groups, has been charged with an administrative misdemeanor over a statement he made during a concert about Russia's ongoing unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.
Producer Radmir Usayev said in a post on Instagram on May 19 that police approached Shevchuk after a concert in Ufa, the capital of the Republic of Bashkortostan, a day earlier and "first wanted to detain him," but then just informed the popular rock musician that he was being charged with an unspecified misdemeanor.
According Usayev, the police officers "talked" to Shevchuk about "the concert, its goals and statements made by Shevchuk about the war and the motherland."
Video of Shevchuk talking about the war at the concert has since gone viral on social media.
"The motherland is not the president's ass that one must lather and kiss all the time. The motherland is a beggar, an old woman that sells potatoes at the railway station. That is what motherland is," Shevchuk said at the concert.
His words were cheered by the crowd.
Last month, authorities in the Siberian city of Tyumen canceled a DDT concert in the city after Shevchuk refused to perform on a stage decorated with a huge "Z" -- a sign of support of Russia's war against Ukraine.