Performance of the scooter in the Crimea. The Germans are outraged by the upcoming Scooter concert in Crimea

MOSCOW, 16 June. /TASS/. The German musical group Scooter intends to perform at the #ZBFest festival in Sevastopol on August 4, despite criticism of politicians in Germany and threats from the Ukrainian authorities. The attacks on the musicians were reported on Thursday by the German newspaper Bild.

At the end of May, the organizer of the festival announced that Scooter would come to #ZBFest, which was timed to coincide with International Champagne Day. On August 4 and 5, Garik Sukachev and Brigada S, Sergey Galanin and the SerGa group, Sergey Shnurov with the Leningrad group, Dima Bilan, the Degrees group and other artists will also perform at the festival site in Balaklava on August 4 and 5. In the summer of 2016, the festival, which aims to popularize Crimea as a fashionable tourist destination, a center of cultural, gastronomic and social life, gathered 15,000 guests.

Criticism at home

The appearance of Scooter at this year's festival was opposed by some European politicians. In particular, Rebecca Harms, a member of the European Parliament from the German Soyuz-90/Green Party, who took an active part in the events on the Kiev Maidan in 2014, sharply criticized the plans of the musicians in an interview with the newspaper.

"The Scooter group doesn't care that Crimea is illegally occupied by Russian troops," she said. Kharms is sure that the musicians should be ashamed of their irresponsibility, since the Russian authorities "made Crimea the largest military base on the Black Sea." "To act only in the interests of their own fans is completely unsuitable," the deputy added.

Threats from Kyiv

Commenting on the plans of German artists, Deputy Prosecutor General of Ukraine Yevgeny Enin told the publication that for visiting the Crimea, which Kyiv continues to consider its territory, without special permission, the group faces a prison term. "For violation of the law punishable by up to eight years in prison," - he said. The deputy head of the department added that such cases had already been initiated "against several foreigners."

According to the newspaper, another Ukrainian law stipulates that only Ukrainian companies can conduct concert activities in Crimea. Thus, Scooter runs the risk of violating several norms of Ukrainian legislation at once, the newspaper notes.

At the same time, the musicians themselves confirmed to the publication that they intended to get to Sevastopol through Moscow.

Group response

The Scooter group is one of the most successful musical groups in Germany. More than 30 million copies of her records have been sold worldwide. Most of the band's songs are created in the genre of electronic dance music in English.

"Incomprehensible: the band is going to perform in Balaklava, a small town on the Russian-annexed Crimean peninsula," is how the German tabloid Bild expressed its bewilderment about the planned performance in the Crimea of ​​one of the most famous German bands performing electronic dance music. Scooter is, as follows from the ZBFest -2017 program, the only foreign performer at the music festival. In addition to the German group, the poster shows such Russian pop artists as Serga, Brigada C, Dima Bilan, Degrees, L "One and the Leningrad group. The open-air festival "Golden Balka" is held from August 4 to 5 in a valley with vineyards, located between the settlement of Balaklava on the southwestern coast of Crimea and Sevastopol Scooter's performance is scheduled for August 4th.

Eight years for illegal visit

The bewilderment of the popular German tabloid in connection with the planned performance of the German band Scooter in Crimea is due to the fact that the Crimean peninsula is considered, according to a United Nations resolution, Ukrainian territory illegally annexed by Russia. The UN resolution of March 27, 2014 confirms the territorial integrity of Ukraine and calls to refrain from any actions or contacts that directly or indirectly recognize the change in the status of Crimea. Ukrainian law allows foreigners to enter "temporarily occupied territories" only with a special permit and only through the continental part of Ukraine.

Scooter musicians, according to the Bild newspaper, citing the group's management, fly to Crimea via Moscow in August, thus violating Ukrainian law. In this regard, the German newspaper quotes the Deputy Prosecutor General of Ukraine Yevgeny Enin, who explained that such an offense is punishable by imprisonment of up to eight years and that Ukraine is already investigating foreigners who illegally visited Crimea.

German politician Rebecca Harms, who represents the Green Party in the European Parliament and is active in protecting the rights of Crimean Tatars, commented indignantly on the news of Scooter's plans. The band, she told Bild, "apparently doesn't care that Crimea was illegally occupied by Russian troops" and that the musicians, by agreeing to perform in Crimea, "are taking Putin's side."

Context

Scooter said yes, Levina would have thought

The scale of the resonance in Germany for the Crimean tour of Scooter came as a complete surprise to the musicians and the band's management. Bild quotes vocalist H.P. Baxxter as saying that the musicians go to Crimea "not to get involved in politics, but because they have a lot of fans there." Manager Jens Tele (Jens Thele) also said that none of the organizers of the trip and could not think that she could bring them into a political conflict.

Surprise in words, in reality the situation is somewhat different. In the list of Scooter's upcoming summer performances on the group's official Facebook page, the festival in Crimea does not appear. The performance in Balaklava appears on the official website of the group, but without specifying in which country this settlement is located, although all other foreign tours in the list follow the city and country of the concert.

It is unlikely that the Scooter musicians have not heard anything about the tense relations between Russia and Ukraine, as well as the position of the West regarding the annexation of Crimea. Of the recent scandals provoked by the current controversial status of the peninsula, the loudest occurred at Eurovision, when Ukraine refused entry to a Russian participant who had previously visited Crimea, having entered its territory from Russia. And Russia, in response, refused to broadcast the European song contest.

Even if H.P. Baxter and his manager had never heard of Yulia Samoilova, they could assume that their attempt to appear apolitical in a politically highly charged context would seem unconvincing. The representative of Germany at the Eurovision Song Contest in Kyiv Levina, for example, when asked by DW if she would go to the Crimea for the festival, she replied that at first she would think about it well and weigh all the pros and cons.

"Naive Illusion"

Now 53-year-old H.P. Baxter, who claims that Scooter doesn't mix culture and politics, obviously simply does not want to adequately assess reality.

In any case, the foreign policy expert of the CDU/CSU faction in the Bundestag, Karl-Georg Wellmann, considers such a vision of reality to be a "naive illusion."

In an interview with DW, the politician, in particular, said: "The group creates unnecessary difficulties for themselves by opposing the unified position of the West regarding Crimea. Of course, their performance will be used for propaganda purposes. Musicians should be aware that they are thus not helping Ukrainians." , nor to the people who live in Crimea."

See also:

• Capture operation

  The brave Putin on graffiti and posters, as well as Russian flags instead of Ukrainian ones, appeared in Crimea after February 27, 2014, when people in military uniforms without insignia occupied the buildings of the Council of Ministers and the Supreme Council in Simferopol, and then key objects and Ukrainian military units. The operation of the Russian Federation to seize the autonomous republic of Crimea, which is part of Ukraine, took place in just a few days.



Crimea 3 years after Russian annexation

Under the control of the Russian military

The illegitimate referendum on March 16, 2014 changed the lives of Crimeans. Despite the protests, bypassing the Constitution of Ukraine, the issue of changing the status of Crimea was put to a vote. The new authorities called the transfer of the Crimean region from the RSFSR to the Ukrainian SSR illegal in 1954 and signed an agreement on joining the Russian Federation. Most of the inhabitants of Crimea rejoiced, and repressions fell upon the protesters.



Crimea 3 years after Russian annexation

Crimean Tatars outlawed

Crimean Tatars suffered the most from the annexation of Crimea. The repressions affected everyone who considers Russia's actions illegal. In 2016, the Majlis of the Crimean Tatar people was recognized as an extremist organization. Its leaders are persecuted, searches and arrests do not stop in the homes of the Tatars. So it was in 1944, when they were deported from the peninsula by the Soviet NKVD as enemies of the people.



Crimea 3 years after Russian annexation

"Can you breathe in the Crimea?"

Instead of Ukrainian TV channels, which have been switched off in Crimea since the spring of 2014, Russia's analog television is operating. The independent channel of the Crimean Tatars ATR, which advocated the integrity of Ukraine, is now broadcasting from Kyiv, since its activities are prohibited on the peninsula. Other Crimean media were also banned - "15 minutes", "Lâle", "Crimea. Realities". "Is it possible to breathe in Crimea?" local journalists ask.



Crimea 3 years after Russian annexation

How to legally get to Crimea

Kyiv does not recognize uncontrolled entry into the annexed Crimea from Russia. Foreigners must first enter the territory of Ukraine and only then proceed to the peninsula, otherwise they can end up on the Ukrainian lists of bans. You can get to Crimea through a checkpoint on the administrative border with mainland Ukraine - on foot or by car, other transport does not go here. For Ukrainians, travel and passage is free.



Crimea 3 years after Russian annexation

Sanctions for annexation

The European Union and the United States, which did not recognize the annexation of Crimea, do not recommend their companies to acquire business, real estate and trade with the peninsula. And Crimean enterprises cannot sell their products to the EU and America. Due to sanctions, Visa and MasterCard cards do not work for Crimeans, and loans have risen in price, because large Russian banks are in no hurry to come to Crimea.



Crimea 3 years after Russian annexation

Promised three years waiting

Those who voted for Crimea as part of Russia expect Putin to fulfill his promises: the construction of the Kerch bridge, a gas pipeline, power plants and the solution of social problems. In the meantime, incomes of the Crimeans do not keep up with the rise in prices and the increase in the cost of "communal". But information about those who are dissatisfied with the standard of living and about local protests appears only in social networks and independent media.



Crimea 3 years after Russian annexation

Bridge from a friend of Putin

The construction of a bridge across the Kerch Strait, which will connect the mainland of the Russian Federation and the Crimea, is carried out in an emergency mode. The construction contract worth 228 billion rubles was awarded to the Stroygazmontazh company of Arkady Rotenberg, a Russian oligarch and friend of Putin. By December 2018, it is planned to build 4 automobile lanes, and by December 2019, 2 railway lanes and access roads to them.



Crimea 3 years after Russian annexation

Black redistribution

For 3 years, the small business of Crimeans has suffered greatly from the redistribution of property in favor of Russian businessmen. According to the site "Crimea. Realities", the number of small businesses in 2016 compared to 2014 decreased from 15 to 1 thousand. Problems may arise for owners of land and houses in the coastal zone. They will lose their land if the Crimean courts do not recognize documents issued before the annexation of the peninsula.



Crimea 3 years after Russian annexation

The tourism industry is losing money

During the season, all beaches are open in Crimea, Russia allowed the import of products from Ukraine here. Residents employed in the service infrastructure hope that life will return to normal. But the flow of tourists for 3 years has decreased by almost a third. The railway connection is interrupted, and flying to rest without much comfort is expensive. Due to EU sanctions, cruise ships with foreigners do not enter the ports of Crimea.



Crimea 3 years after Russian annexation

Gold of the Crimean Scythians will move to Kyiv

Treasures of local museums - hundreds of gold jewelry and weapons - will not return to Crimea. In December 2016, a court in the Netherlands ruled to transfer to Kyiv this unique collection of 550 artifacts, which traveled to exhibitions in Europe during the annexation of Crimea. The court ruling says that the further fate of the exhibits of the exhibition "Crimea. Gold and the secrets of the Black Sea" will be decided by the Ukrainian court.



Crimea 3 years after Russian annexation

With a Russian passport

Since the annexation of Crimea, local residents can only buy SIM cards for mobile phones with a Russian passport. But with a document issued on the peninsula, they do not give a visa at the embassies of the EU and the USA. The winners were Crimean pensioners who received Russian passports. Their pension has increased to the Russian level, and the retirement age for women has decreased from 60 to 55 years.

The press service of Simferopol International Airport posted a message about this on its Facebook page, accompanied by photos of the musicians.

H.P. Baxter bandleader, going out to reporters in the VIP-lounge of the airport, did not hide his excellent mood. As the musician said, the flight from France, where the group had previously performed, went well.

Instead of bread and salt, Baxter was offered red mullet. An offering in the form of a fish amused the artist, but he refused to try it.

“How Much Is the Fish?”: Legends from Germany will be “lit” in Balaklava

Scooter will perform at the ZBfest festival, which will take place on August 4-5 in Balaklava. In addition to the German band, the following will also take part in the festival: Garik Sukachev, groups "Earring" and "Degrees", Dima Bilan, as well as Sergei Shnurov with his group "Leningrad".

Scooter is an electronic dance music band founded in 1993.

Scooter is one of the most successful musical groups in German history. The total sales of albums and singles of the group exceed 30 million copies. The group has been awarded more than 80 gold and platinum records (albums and singles). According to the MTV-Russia viewers in 1998, they were recognized as the “best band in the world”, and the composition How Much Is the Fish? to this day is the hallmark of the team.

In 2010, the group's composition Stuck On Replay became the official anthem of the Ice Hockey World Championship, which was held in Germany.

Despite the fact that the group is approaching its twenty-fifth anniversary, and the composition of the team has changed several times, Scooter remains operational. The band's 19th studio album, Scooter Forever, is scheduled for release on August 25, 2017.

Ukraine threatened Scooter with prison

The performance of musicians at the festival in Crimea attracted additional attention due to threats against artists from the Ukrainian authorities.

Mid June 2017 Deputy Prosecutor General of Ukraine Evgeny Enin In an interview with the German publication ВIld, he threatened the members of the Scooter group with eight years in prison for performing in the Crimea.

The prosecutor said that such a punishment could be applied to artists if they perform on the peninsula without the permission of Ukraine and enter there not from Ukrainian territory.

Secretary of the Committee on National Security and Defense of the Verkhovna Rada Ivan Vinnik was less severe. “The Scooter group, if it enters the Crimea, for example, through Moscow, the territory of Russia, and not through Ukraine, will no longer be allowed into the territory of Ukraine. They will not be allowed to enter,” he said in an interview with the radio station “Moscow speaking”.

At the same time, Vinnik proposed a compromise: the musicians receive permission and enter the peninsula from the territory of Ukraine.

“We have been traveling to Ukraine and Russia since 1995”

Then connected to the process Ambassador of Ukraine to Germany Andriy Melnyk. On June 27, on his Twitter page, he wrote: “Today is a particularly delicate diplomatic mission in Hamburg: a meeting with the manager of the Scooter group to dissuade the adventure in Crimea.”

The musicians were also pressured in Germany. Rebecca Harms, Representative of the Green Party in the European Parliament, stated: “The Scooter group does not seem to care that Crimea was illegally occupied by Russian troops, and that they, speaking there, take the side Putin».

H.P. Baxter did not hide his surprise at the uproar: “We are going to the Crimea not to engage in politics, but because our fans live there. We have something to show them."

Group producer Jens Tele Bild explained: “We didn't even know we were getting into a political conflict. Our music is completely apolitical and we want to stay away from political issues. We have been traveling to Ukraine and Russia since 1995. We have a lot of fans there who are looking forward to Scooter.”

The musicians went on principle

The question of whether the group will perform in the Crimea, hung in the air. This topic has even split the German Scooter fans. In addition, the band has a concert scheduled in Kyiv in October. The probability of its holding after the speech in the Crimea tends to zero.

Many believed that under such powerful pressure, the musicians would prefer not to stir up passions further and cancel their performance at the festival in Balaklava.

But the Scooter musicians followed the principle, and thousands of fans will see the concert in the Crimea. Among them, by the way, there will be many Ukrainians who came to Balaklava for the sake of their favorites.

And politicians sometimes need to slow down and relax. For example, under incendiary Scooter tracks.

SIMFEROPOL, August 5 - RIA Novosti, Maxim Groznov. The German band Scooter flew to Crimea for the first time and performed in front of thousands of people at the #ZBFest festival in Balaklava.

The musicians presented a spectacular multimedia show on the stage of the festival, performed all their famous hits and promised the Crimeans "to see you next time".

double scale

The #ZBFest festival has been held at the vineyards of the Zolotaya Balka agricultural company for the second year in a row, and this time on a double scale. Last year, the one-day festival gathered, according to the organizers, 15,000 spectators. This time the festival program stretched over two days, and the organizers expected up to 30,000 visitors on the first day. A one-day entrance ticket cost from 1 to 3.5 thousand rubles. A free transfer from Sevastopol was organized to the festival site, and at 21.00 spectators still continued to arrive at the site.

The Scooter group became the headliner of the first day of the festival, together with it Sergey Galanin and the SerGa group and Garik Sukachev with the S Brigade performed in Balaklava on Friday.

Technical problems

"Brigade C" at the end of their performance encountered technical difficulties - in the middle of the song "Drink me with water" the sound disappeared on the stage. The musicians did not interrupt the performance and sang to the end with the support of the audience.

The next song also began without sound - the audience sang "Grandma smokes a pipe" in chorus along with the band members. In the middle of the song, the sound was restored. The musicians finished their performance and left the stage to a standing ovation from the audience.

Hits and fireworks

Finally, closer to midnight, the performance of the Scooter group began. Spotlights illuminated the stage, an image of lightning appeared on the screen, and lead singer H. P. Baxter entered the stage amid fireworks and screams and applause from the audience. The band kicked off with the traditional Ten Seconds Before Sunrise, after which the vocalist greeted the audience.

"Good evening, Balaklava! Are you ready? (Good evening, Balaklava! Are you ready?)" - H. P. Baxter addressed the audience. They responded with shouts, whistles and applause. "Thanks!" Baxter replied in Russian.

In an hour and a half, the group performed all the hits well known in Russia - Bora! Bora! Bora!, Weekend!, Mary Got No Lamb, How Much Is The Fish? and Habanera.

On a backstage screen, the band's performance was accompanied by a multimedia show. At the climax, fireworks were turned on. This delighted the audience, who sang along with the group, danced and took photos and videos. Between songs, Baxter thanked the audience in Russian, and the audience answered him with shouts and applause.

Promised to return

After the end of the performance, the musicians left the stage, but the audience immediately began to call them for an encore. Finally, the band returned, H. P. Baxter took the guitar, and they performed one of their most famous songs - Fire. The musicians finished with another one of their dance hits - Move Your Ass.

"Thank you, Crimea! See you next time (See you)" Baxter shouted at the end to the volleys of fireworks and applause from the audience. He introduced the band members and the musicians left the stage.

The festival in Balaklava will continue on Saturday, Dima Bilan, the Degrees group, L "ONE and Leningrad" will perform in front of the Crimeans.

Electronic group Scooter gave the first ever concert in the Crimea. The musicians performed in front of thousands of spectators of the ZBFest festival in Balaklava and promised to return. But the joy of the Crimeans, who saw their idols live, haunts the authorities of Ukraine - a criminal case has been opened against the Germans in Kyiv, they are going to be summoned for interrogation and threatened with a prison term.

Thank you Crimea, amazing crowd! (Thank you, Crimea, amazing audience), - the frontman of the band H. P. Baxter thanked the Crimeans after the concert in social networks.

The first visit to the Crimea left warm memories for both the musicians themselves and the inhabitants of the peninsula. The musician was pleased with the hospitality of the Crimeans.

Going to the Crimea, Scooter emphasized that their performance is out of politics, they came for the sake of the fans. And that's why they didn't even talk to reporters behind the scenes. Instead, bandleader H. P. Baxter concentrated on music. According to the organizers, before the concert, he sat in a tent for a long time and tuned in to the concert.

Good evening, Balaclava! He greeted the audience as he stepped onto the stage.

The musicians performed in front of thousands of spectators of the festival in Balaklava and promised to return

An expressive show in the style of techno, trance and hardcore was accompanied by flashes of fire, fireworks, go-go dancers. Scooter performed his most famous songs - Hyper Hyper, Weekend!, Bora! Bora! Bora! and many others. If at the beginning of the concert the audience looked at the stage with interest and filmed the show on their phones, then after a few compositions they began to dance with might and main and sing along to the energetic German.

Come on, come on! - Baxter encouraged them in Russian and gave new charges of rhythm and drive.

Scooter fans specially came to Balaklava from all over the peninsula and from distant Russian cities. Many danced in discos to their songs in the 90s and still remember the words. Social networks were filled with photos from the concert, which caused a storm of emotions in everyone.

Among the spectators were Germans - participants in the Berlin-Moscow rally. They said that they came to Crimea, despite the horror stories that the German media tell about the peninsula, and expressed hope for friendship between Russia and Germany.

When the musicians left the stage towards the end of the show, the audience sang the melody How Much Is The Fish in unison. Scooter rewarded them for their creativity with their favorite song Fire. The concert ended with fireworks.

Scooter's visit to the Crimea aroused indignation among some German and Ukrainian politicians, although before the trip to the peninsula, the musicians asked not to be drawn into a political conflict. While the Crimean fans were rejoicing at the arrival of their idols, the Ukrainian authorities did not waste time - the prosecutor's office in Kyiv opened a criminal case against Baxter and other members of the group for allegedly violating "the procedure for entering the temporarily occupied territory of the country and leaving it." For this they face up to eight years in prison. Ukrainian law enforcers are already dreaming of calling the Scooter group for questioning. The representative of the prosecutor's office, Tatyana Tikhonchik, said that Ukraine would send a request to the "competent authorities of Germany" to help them interrogate the musicians.

Scooter themselves do not react to these attacks in any way. Instead, they promised to come to Crimea again:

Thanks Crimea! See you next time (See you next time) - shouted H. P. Baxter at the end of an hour and a half show.

The musicians reported about the concert in Balaklava on their official website, it took place as part of the group's European tour. Scooter is considered one of the most successful musical bands in Germany, it became popular in Russia and Eastern Europe in the mid-90s. The group will celebrate its 25th anniversary next year.