Russian artist Filip Kirkorov is banned from entering Lithuania for five years

According to the Interior Ministry, at the request of the Foreign Ministry, the Migration Department added this Russian artist on Tuesday to the list of undesirable people in Lithuania for the mentioned period. The ban on the artist from coming to Lithuania goes into effect on January 19.

“Performers who publicly justify the occupation of Crimea should not be tolerated in any democracy. We have an unequivocal position on the issue of such actors, therefore there was no question about the inclusion of F. Kirkorov on the list of undesirable people in Lithuania, ”says Interior Minister Agnė Bilotaitė.

On Monday, Foreign Minister Gabriel Landsberg asked the Russian and Bulgarian citizen Kirkorov to be blacklisted, noting that the well-known artist “deliberately denied the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine during his repeated visits to the illegally annexed Crimean peninsula. and thus indirectly justified the aggressive actions of Russia. “

Filip Kirkorov / Photo by Scanpix

According to G.Landsbergis, the participation of F.Kirkorov in concerts in Crimea “substantially damages the national security of Lithuania”. The minister promised that Lithuania would systematically evaluate all the people that Russia “seeks to exploit by spreading its foreign policy and trying to influence the Lithuanian people.”

People.lt recalls that the consideration of expanding the so-called blacklist in the public sphere arose from the fact that grants for lost or relocated cultural events were awarded to companies that had planned concerts by Russian artists Filip Kirkorov and Mikhail Shufutinsky.

UAB Bravo Events received more than 13,000 LTL for the postponed concert of F. Kirkorov. UAB Mon voyage received almost 17 thousand euros for the postponed performances of M. Šufutinskis. benefit. These concerts were postponed to April and June.

Journalist Andrius Tapinas pointed out that F. Kirkorov’s concert, funded by the Lithuanian state, was postponed to June 14 this year, Day of Mourning and Hope, after it was not held in 2020. “He is spitting on us, we we clean and offer more money, “he said.

The date of the concert has recently been changed again; It is scheduled to take place on June 12.

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