Russia blacklists rock legend Andrei Makarevich for opposing Ukraine war

One of Russia’s rock legends from the popular band "Mashina Vremeni" or "Time Machine" was blacklisted by the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation on Sunday for criticising Russian President Vladimir Putin's expansionist military agendas and the ongoing "special military operation" in Ukraine. Andrei Makarevich was seen next to Putin whilst the English rock band The Beatles' Beatle Paul McCarthy performed an encore of “Back In The U.S.S.R.” on Red Square nearly two decades ago. Makarevich recently became a vocal public critic of Putin's invasion of Ukraine which prompted the Kremlin to add his name to the list of individuals designated as "foreign agents".

Besides the rock legend, Russia also declared TV presenter Mikhail Shats and journalists Dmitry Gordon and Katerina Gordeeva as foreign agents for speaking against the regime of the Russian Federation. Others added to the list include the editor-in-chief of Novaya Gazeta. Europe” Kirill Martynov, LGBT activist Kirill Fedorov, journalist Sergei Loiko, former municipal deputy Yulia Galyamina and political scientist Sergei Medvedev, as well as Novosti LLC (the legal entity of the TVK television company). The foreign agent's list also has Moscow's staunch critic of Putin, opposition leader Alexei Navalny's associate Ivan Zhdanov. 

'Not going to do anything about it..': Makarevich

In an interview with Russian RTVI,  Makarevich stated that while he was unfairly blacklisted by the Russian government for opposing the war and atrocities in Ukraine, he was not going to do anything about it. He called the blacklisting as "stupid." “Look, wasting the time of your life fighting these windmills. I think it was a matter of time. Those whom they call foreign agents have nothing to do with the concept of 'foreign agent' because they are not 'agents' and not 'foreign,' the Russian musician said. "They [Kremlin] just stigmatize unwanted people," said Makarevich. The rock star questioned Russians for what he described as "embracing" Putin’s war and the Latin letter “Z” that Russian Defense Forces deploy as a patriotic symbol for war and liberation. 

“Before the hostilities started, before people started dying, I could fully understand that people can hold different views of the same thing. But when it suddenly turned into war, and someone shouts, ‘Right on!’ -- then I just cross this person out,” Makarevich said.

Makarevich had also earlier hit the headlines after speculations arose that Russia's ally Georgia's Culture Ministry cancelled the pro-Ukrainian artist's concert in Tbilisi. The Georgian government, although, dismissed the allegations as “fake” for scrapping the event of Andrey Makarevich and Maksim Galkin. “They can f**k off,” Makarevich, founder of  Russian rock band Mashina Vremeni said in an interview with Current Time, the Russian-language channel run by RFE/RL and VOA. The 68-year-old had sought refuge in Israel since Putin ordered an offensive on Ukraine on February 24.