Senator Elena Afanasyeva said that the Prosecutor General’s Office should figure out who and why wrote a statement about checking the work of singer Yaroslav Dronov (creative pseudonym Shaman) for signs of inciting ethnic hatred in the text of the song “I’m Russian”. In her opinion, the statement is “a natural kindling of Russophobia”.
“I, using our today’s event, ask the Prosecutor General’s Office to seriously approach the issue and, using this example, to analyze where the statement regarding this artist came from, who wrote it and for what reasons. Because this is the most natural incitement of Russophobia inside Russia,” said Elena Afanasyeva at a meeting of the commission of the Federation Council for the protection of state sovereignty and the prevention of interference in the internal affairs of Russia (quote from TASS).
Ms. Afanasyeva also stated that the singer “has been a real attack for several days in a row”, and called the authors of the statement “radicals who work inside our country.”
“In general, I see in this accusation the incitement of hatred towards the Russians, the infringement and humiliation of one of the state-forming nations – the Russians, the desire to intimidate the Russians by nationality, (prohibit them.— “uh”) mention their traditions and their history, support for Russophobia, which is now flourishing in the West, and they are trying to plant it in the Russian Federation,” Elena Afanasyeva added.
31-year-old Yaroslav Dronov has been performing under the pseudonym Shaman since 2020. On February 23, 2022, he released the track “Let’s Get Up”. On July 22, Shaman released the song “I’m Russian”. By February 2023, the video for this track has collected 28 million views on YouTube.
On February 27, Mr. Dronov reported that a “certain citizen” applied to the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the Tula region with a request to check the song “I am Russian” for extremism and inciting ethnic hatred. The department turned to the contractor for written explanations, they are published in his Telegram channel. According to him, the song passed all the necessary checks before it was published on music streaming.