The TV channel of the Moscow region government “360” published a video in which musicians of the groups Animal Jazz and Zero People Alexander Krasovitsky and Alexander Zarankin report that they “respect the country’s leadership” and “are patriots of Russia.”
“Today, November 9, 2023, we were planning a concert of the Zero People group in St. Petersburg. And no anti-government, anti-Russian or pro-Ukrainian slogans were planned at this concert. <…> I am a patriot of my country and I respect the leadership of the Russian Federation,” Zarankin says with a smile in the video. It is unknown where exactly it was filmed.
“At our concerts and in our songs there is not a single word against the SVO, not a single word in support of Ukraine. We respect the leadership of our country and are certainly patriots of Russia,” Krasovitsky says in another recording.
On November 9, FBS and riot police officers burst into the Zero People concert in the St. Petersburg club “Cosmonaut” and told those present to sit or lie down on the floor. The Baza Telegram channel wrote that the reason for the security forces’ visit was Krasovitsky’s “anti-Russian statements.” The spectators were released after their documents were checked. There was no information about the detention of the musicians themselves.
Today it became known that Zero People decided to postpone their tour of Russia. “Our tour with the presentation of the album “Songs of Time” is postponed to new dates. New concert dates will be announced soon. <…> We’ll break through,” says the group’s page on VKontakte. The reasons for the postponement of performances are not stated.
After the concert was disrupted, Fontanka published a recording of a spectator hitting a riot police officer on the helmet and shouting: “I paid the money!” In response to this, he forcefully presses the woman against the wall with the words “Why are you throwing your hands at me? I have a weapon. Don’t you understand at all?
On November 10, the department of the Investigative Committee for St. Petersburg reported that a case was opened against a concert goer for using violence against a security officer and insulting a government official (Part 1 of Article 318 of the Criminal Code and Article 319 of the Criminal Code) . The Leninsky District Court of St. Petersburg ordered her to ban certain actions as a preventive measure.
According to Rotunda, 50-year-old Natalya Artemova came to the concert from Moscow. In the decision to initiate a criminal case, the investigator indicated that she hit the security officer in the head, chest and thigh, which “caused him pain.” Fontanka claims that the victim is the commander of one of the riot police units.
Updated at 19:06. Added information about the postponement of concerts.