Ukraine’s Military Intelligence Lists Singers Dima Bilan and Sergey Lazarev in the ‘Kremlin Mouthpieces’ Section of War & Sanctions
Russian singers Dima Bilan and Sergey Lazarev appear in the ‘Kremlin Mouthpieces’ section of War & Sanctions, a database run by the Ukrainian Defence Ministry’s military intelligence directorate. The Russian outlet RBC reported their inclusion on November 11. Ukraine imposed ten-year sanctions on both singers in January 2023 by a separate decree.
Bilan is listed under his birth name, Viktor Belan. The agency cited his involvement in Putin Team, a 2016 performance marking the anniversary of Russia’s annexation of Crimea, and a December 2023 concert for families of Russians who took part in the war. The agency presented those events as evidence of support for Vladimir Putin’s policies and the war against Ukraine in Bilan’s profile.
In Lazarev’s profile, the agency cited his appearance in the 2022 video for Shaman’s song ‘Vstanem’ and his performances in Russian-annexed Crimea. It also noted that the singer had spoken against the war at the start of the full-scale invasion.
In 2023, a court in St Petersburg fined music channel AIVA TV 500,000 rubles for broadcasting Lazarev’s ‘Tak Krasivo’ video, which features same-sex couples. The court deemed the video ‘LGBT propaganda’. After the ruling, the video disappeared from the singer’s YouTube channel and website, Meduza reported.
