The leader of the group "Zero" Fedor Chistyakov immigrated to the United States

Photo: Wikipedia

The leader of the Russian group "Zero" Fedor Chistyakov announced his decision to immigrate to the United States.

This astonished many of his fans, because in his home country he just began to smile success, and the songs he performed were so attached to Russia that Chistyakov moved to another country seemed incredible, writes “Новая газета".

As it turned out, the reason was his religion.

Chistyakov has never hidden the fact that he is a member of Jehovah's Witnesses, an organization that was recently declared extremist in Russia. But few people attached any importance to this, considering membership in this organization a quirk of a rocker. However, Fedor, although he never spoke about his religion at concerts and very rarely in interviews, takes it seriously and is ready to fight for it.

“Witnesses” appeared in his life in the 90s, in the most difficult period of his life. He just got out of prison, where he served a sentence for attempted murder, went through a psychiatric hospital and was in a terrible state, even thought about suicide. Now he does not drink, does not smoke, and does not sing his old songs where drugs are mentioned, and it was Jehovah's Witnesses who saved him from drug and alcohol abuse.

Pressure on this organization in Russia has been going on for a long time. In 2004, a court decision dissolved the Moscow community. In 2011, several criminal cases were opened against “Witnesses”. And in 2009, the NTV channel showed the film: “Caution: Jehovah’s Witnesses.” In addition to the attack on the organization, there was an attack on Chistyakov personally. TV crews presented him in the image of a zombified and fooled sectarian, which is not true. This can be confirmed by anyone who has attended Fedor’s concerts and listened to his latest recordings - zombies don’t sing like that.

The conclusion from the program was read unambiguously: look, the murderer and drug addict are preaching the Bible! They are probably all like that.

As the Witnesses campaigned around him, he excitedly waited for a denouement. There were weak chances that will cost. Now there is no such chance. Since July, his co-religionists and he - outlaw.

“I had no intention of emigrating. There are people who have been trying for years to get a green card or otherwise get into America. But I never had any such thoughts or possibilities. I’ve settled firmly in place, I’m already fifty, where should I go? Besides, right now everything is going very well, as a musician I’m on the rise: a good band, an established touring system, albums coming out one after another. And so we flew on tour to the USA. And the day before, a trial took place, which resulted in the banning of the Witnesses. It was a shock for me. The likelihood that I would not return from the American tour began to increase greatly. And on July 17, when the appeal was rejected, I made the final decision,” Chistyakov explained the reasons for his decision.

He noted that for him personally it is an unacceptable threat to go to jail for his own religion.

“Such an environment makes any creative activity meaningless. What’s the point if they can come for you tomorrow?” the artist noted.

He added that musical activity is connected with long-term investments, he invests personal money in his projects, and he is also financed by investors, to whom he has obligations.

“Concerts are planned six months in advance, and I don’t even have the right to get sick, I have to play dead or alive. But how can you work if you can be taken away at any moment? Then I need to change my profession, but I don’t want to, I still have many plans,” explained Chistyakov.

He also noted that he was very worried about the searches in the homes of members of Jehovah's Witnesses, because it also threatened his home studio.

“For the last year, my fellow believers have been visited by the special services with searches. They took away laptops, computers, and hard drives in order to find evidence of extremism. I was very worried about my home studio. It is completely unthinkable that my work would be taken away to an unknown location. So my move is not connected with the fact that I allegedly do not like Russia and sold myself to the Americans. This is a necessary measure aimed at preventing me from disappearing as a creative unit. There was no other way out,” said the musician.

At the same time, he said that with his relocation, the projects in which he participates are not closed, the tour schedule will simply be changed, given that Fedor will fly to them from America.

Chistyakov admitted that, despite the move, he did not intend to sing in English.

“I'm afraid I won't succeed. The Russian language, Russian thinking, Russian mentality do not disappear with the move. These are not clothes that you take off, put on another and everything is okay. I remain the same as I was, I still care about the things that happen in Russia. And of course, I am focused on the Russian public. But there is also an emigrant audience, it is not very large, but it is there. I live in an area of ​​New York where you constantly hear Russian spoken on the street. And this isn’t even Brighton yet,” said the musician.

According to him, he is doing well in the USA, but the feeling that he was a victim of political games in his native country is very unpleasant for him.

"Everything is fine. The only thing is, when I look in the mirror in the morning, every time I cannot believe that I, Fyodor Chistyakov, am an extremist and a threat to the national security of Russia. I'm not fighting the regime. Moreover, I respect the authorities. And I was played like a card in a big political game. This is some kind of nonsense,” said the artist.

Fedor Chistyakov - Soviet and Russian rock musician, composer, songwriter, accordionist and guitarist, leader, as well as the founder of the group "Zero»(1986 — 1999).

Chistyakov was born 28 December 1967 years в Leningrad, USSR. At the age of 8, he began studying in the music circle at a secondary school in bayan class. Later continued his studies in music school them. N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov. In the 6 classroom, Fyodor became very interested in modern music, began to learn to play the guitar and set about trying to organize a band.

In 1985, after moving to a new school, Fyodor met Alexey “Nichols” Nikolaev and Anatoly “Lyulya” Platonov. The three of them created a group scrap and even recorded at home Fedor magnetoalbom scraptaking advantage of the absence of parents.

In the middle 1986 years The first album of Chistyakov and his friends was recorded at the Tropillo studio - “Music of quarrelsome files" — and the question arose about a new name for the group. It came from the song “Disabled Person of Group Zero”; This is how the team received the name “Zero Group” (by the fall it was shortened to the simple “Zero"). The album was later included in the catalog of underground recordings in the USSR - in the book by Alexander Kushnir “100 magnetic albums of Soviet rock".

The project attracted the attention of public and critics due to the unusual style of playing Fedor Chistyakov on bayan, an instrument uncharacteristic of rock music, as well as sharp social texts and an expressive stage image of a guy in a Russian shirt with an accordion playing rock and roll.

In March 1987, “Zero” went on its first tour - to Novgorod. From this moment on, the group began a vigorous concert activity. In 1989-1990 the group visited Finland, Czechoslovakia, France, Germany, Ireland.

В 1991—1992's Chistyakov lived in Komarov at the cottage with his friend Irina Levshakova, in those years, actively communicating with representatives of the rock party, the guests of the woman in the country used drugs and alcohol. Drug addiction caused depression in Chistyakov.

8 October 1992 years Chistyakov in Komarovo went out for a walk with Irina Levshakova and attacked her with a knife, applied her several knife wounds in the neck (later, during interrogation, he explained his act by saying that witch, and that he wanted to save humanity from its black aura). The artist was convicted under article 15,103 CC RF (attempted murder). During the investigation, Chistyakov spent about a year in prison in "Crosses". At trial was recognized insane. With a diagnosis ofparanoid schizophrenia" He was sent for treatment to a psychiatric hospital, where he stayed from August 1993 to September 1994.

В 1995 year Fyodor Chistyakov became a member of “Jehovah's Witnesses”. Biblical knowledge, he said, literally saved him. Having become a deeply religious man, Fedor radically changed his way of life: he quit drinking, smoking, cursing and performing his previous songs based on these vices.

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