{"id":1181021,"date":"2026-09-01T18:07:16","date_gmt":"2026-09-01T18:07:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1181021\/"},"modified":"2026-09-01T18:07:16","modified_gmt":"2026-09-01T18:07:16","slug":"russian-rapper-morgenshtern-says-he-was-offered-a-way-back-to-russia-visit-the-occupied-donbas-apologize-or-fork-over-1-million-meduza","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1181021\/","title":{"rendered":"Russian rapper Morgenshtern says he was offered a way back to Russia: visit the occupied Donbas, apologize, or fork over $1 million \u2014 Meduza"},"content":{"rendered":"

People with ties to\u00a0the Russian authorities offered musician Alisher Morgenshtern a\u00a0chance to\u00a0return to\u00a0Russia if\u00a0he\u00a0publicly supported the war, Morgenshtern said in\u00a0an\u00a0interview with YouTuber\u00a0Yury Dud<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Morgenshtern said he\u00a0looked into ways to\u00a0\u201csolve the problem\u201d himself. The intermediaries\u2019 condition was a\u00a0public act: a\u00a0trip to\u00a0the occupied territories or\u00a0a\u00a0public apology.<\/p>\n

He\u00a0refused, he\u00a0said, because he\u00a0does not think he\u00a0did anything wrong and does not want to\u00a0support the\u00a0war. Any trip to\u00a0the Donbas is\u00a0a\u00a0political statement, he\u00a0said: \u201cNobody just goes there.\u201d<\/p>\n

There was also an\u00a0option to\u00a0\u201cpay and do\u00a0nothing,\u201d Morgenshtern said. The intermediaries promised to\u00a0work things out with the authorities for $1 million.<\/p>\n

His departure from Russia followed a\u00a0meeting at\u00a0Russia\u2019s Presidential Administration, Morgenshtern said. He\u00a0was threatened there with a\u00a015-year sentence and advised to\u00a0avoid \u201cprovocative actions.\u201d One example was his about the \u201cplastic cup and the cop.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before Russia\u2019s full-scale invasion of\u00a0Ukraine, Morgenshtern spoke favorably about Russian President Vladimir Putin\u2019s policies. He\u00a0left the country in\u00a0November 2021, after Russia\u2019s Investigative Committee began reviewing his work for possible drug propaganda.<\/p>\n

Russia\u2019s Justice Ministry designated Morgenshtern a\u00a0\u201cforeign agent\u201d in\u00a0May 2022. In\u00a02024, authorities opened a\u00a0criminal case against him for failing to\u00a0comply with his obligations under that status and placed him on\u00a0the wanted list. In\u00a0April 2026, a\u00a0Moscow court fined Morgenshtern 7 million rubles in\u00a0absentia over posts published without the required \u201cforeign agent\u201d disclaimer. His property in\u00a0Moscow has been frozen.<\/p>\n

At\u00a0Meduza, we\u00a0are committed to\u00a0transparency about our use of\u00a0artificial intelligence in\u00a0the newsroom. The story you\u2019re reading was written by\u00a0one of\u00a0our living, breathing journalists and translated from Russian using an\u00a0AI\u00a0model configured to\u00a0follow our strict editorial standards. This translation process is\u00a0the result of\u00a0extensive testing and refinements to\u00a0ensure our English-language coverage is\u00a0timely and accurate. A\u00a0Meduza editor reviews every draft before publication.<\/p>\n

If\u00a0you find any errors in\u00a0this translation, please contact us\u00a0at\u00a0[email\u00a0protected]<\/a>.<\/p>\n

To\u00a0read Meduza\u2019s exclusive content in\u00a0English, please subscribe to\u00a0our newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"People with ties to\u00a0the Russian authorities offered musician Alisher Morgenshtern a\u00a0chance to\u00a0return to\u00a0Russia if\u00a0he\u00a0publicly supported the war, Morgenshtern…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1181022,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[7655],"tags":[332,7888,7883,7886,7875,7868,7880,7870,7881,7887,7876,7864,7871,7865,7873,7874,7866,7869,7867,7885,7879,7872,7884,7882,7878,7877],"class_list":["post-1181021","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-russia","tag-russia","tag-7888","tag-7883","tag-7886","tag-7875","tag-7868","tag-7880","tag-7870","tag-7881","tag-7887","tag-7876","tag-7864","tag-7871","tag-7865","tag-7873","tag-7874","tag-7866","tag-7869","tag-7867","tag-7885","tag-7879","tag-7872","tag-7884","tag-7882","tag-7878","tag-7877"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/117197120992763884","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1181021","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1181021"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1181021\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1181022"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1181021"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1181021"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1181021"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}