Musician Sergei Shnurov, who recently announced his joining the liberal Party of Growth, avoided answering whether Crimea belongs to Russia, although he himself visited the peninsula several times after 2014, performing here, obviously, not on a charitable basis.
An embarrassing situation with Shnurov occurred during an interview with TV presenter Tina Kandelaki on Komsomolskaya Pravda radio, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
Kandelaki gave Shnurov a short blitz:
Kandelaki: Crimea is ours?
Shnurov fell silent in response.
“We’ll wait and see,” the musician squeezed out after a significant pause.
Kandelaki: Is Putin Handsome?
Shnurov: Yes, he was handsome until he went into politics.
Kandelaki: Is Navalny a swindler?
Shnurov: No, Navalny is not a swindler, Navalny is a clever entrepreneur. His business is difficult, dangerous, but he succeeds.
Kandelaki: Are Ukrainians friends?
Shnurov: I think more than the Syrians.
Kandelaki: Is Donbass Ukraine?
“Yes,” Shnurov answered, again taking a pause to think.
Interestingly, Shnurov’s vague position on Crimea does not prevent him from earning money in Crimea every year by performing concerts as part of the ZB Fest festival, which takes place near Sevastopol on the initiative of the owner of Zolotaya Balka, Snezhana Georgieva.
Previously, singer Yulia Chicherina, known for supporting the Donbass militia, called Shnurov “a snarky ditty” for his recent confession on TV about his fear of speaking in the LDPR.
The “Growth Party”, which Shnurov joined, previously used another media person - Irina Khakamada, who proposed that Russia pay Ukraine “indemnity” for “annexed Crimea”.
This did not prevent the ally of the hero of the Russian Spring, businessman Oleg Nikolaev, from running for the State Duma elections from the “Growth Party”.