The Russian group 'Bi-2' was arrested in Thailand: the musicians spent about a week in prison

On January 24, the popular Russian group Bi-2 gave a concert at the Illuzion club on the island of Phuket, Thailand. Immediately after the performance, seven artists were arrested. They were threatened with deportation to Russia. Now all members of the rock band managed to fly to Israel from Thailand, where they were held in custody for a week, reports with the BBC.

Photo: IStock

The official reason for the detention of the artists was a mistake that local organizers made when preparing documents.

As it turned out, they violated the visa regime. The musicians came to Thailand as tourists and were not allowed to perform without a work visa.

The musicians themselves reported pressure from the Russian authorities, who, according to them, sought to deport the artists to Russia, where they faced persecution for their anti-war position.

On the subject: The FBI finally figured out how a Russian flew to the United States without a ticket, visa or passport

The leader of the group, Yegor Bortnik (Leva Bi-2), said that representatives of the Thai authorities hinted that the detention of the group members had a “Russian trace”: “A special order for the Bi-2 group to extradite us to Russia for you know what "

He directly connects the incident with their detention and the pressure of Russian representatives on the Thai authorities with a new campaign of persecution of dissidents in Russia.

“It’s a very unusual experience for us that someone would try to get at us abroad, especially since I’m an Israeli citizen,” Leva reasoned at the Israeli airport, where he met the rest of the group. “I understand that this operation was thought out in advance. Unfortunately, we found a weak link that was not in our control. Perhaps this could have been avoided. I won’t live in Russia anymore.”

He does not hide his pro-Ukrainian position. Moreover, information appeared in the Russian media that the singers secretly support the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

For this, Russian officials demanded that sanctions be imposed on Bi-2 within Russia; in particular, the group was included in the so-called “black list” of Russian artists. After the outbreak of a full-scale war, their concerts began to be canceled en masse.

Battle of diplomats

After the arrest, the artists were placed in the detention center of the migration police of the island of Phuket, reports Meduza. When the court fined the musicians, they were moved to a migration prison in Bangkok, where they awaited a decision on deportation. The group was kept in a common cell designed for 80 people.

“This is a cage under the hot sun, it’s 35-40 degrees hot there,” noted music journalist and Dozhd host Mikhail Kozyrev.

After the arrest, the Russian authorities demanded that three of the seven members of the group who have Russian citizenship be deported to Russia.

The Russian side insisted that they be expelled on a direct flight. The rest of the detainees, including the leaders of the group and Alexander Uman (Shura Bi-2), have Israeli citizenship. Uman is also a citizen of Australia. The musicians assured that Bortnik and Uman do not have Russian citizenship.

But drummer Boris Lifshitz, flautist and keyboardist Yan Nikolenko, guitarist Andrei Zvonkov, bassist Maxim Andryushchenko and arranger Gleb Kolyadin have Russian citizenship. Nikolenko and Lifshitz are citizens of Israel.

Under Thai law, a person facing deportation is sent on a direct flight to his country of citizenship. According to Thai rules, if a person has two passports, he will be deported to the country on whose passport he entered.

Throughout the week, the musicians were made to feel nervous. Negotiations about their future fate were conducted by diplomats from several countries.

“This process was exciting, because until the last minute everyone was worried that something might change. During this week, information constantly changed, and it became more and more terrible. And I understand: the guys don’t believe that they arrived here until the last minute,” Leva explained.

How it all ended

Leva Bi-2 was the first to fly away from Thailand on the night of January 31st. The rest of the musicians managed to leave the country a little later, and they also successfully reached Israel.

“I’m proud to be Israeli,” Leva noted. “My country helped me become independent, my country saved me and my friends in difficult times. Therefore, many thanks to the Israeli Foreign Ministry, thanks to Consul Eli Sena - he is simply super professional.”

You may be interested in: top New York news, stories of our immigrants, and helpful tips about life in the Big Apple - read all this on ForumDaily New Y

Israeli diplomats, among other things, managed to agree on the release of three musicians who have no citizenship other than Russian.

“Many thanks to Israel once again for helping not only those group members who have Israeli citizenship, but also people who were simply in danger in Russia, and are now free. This is the most important thing,” Leva concluded.

According to him, the Russian consul also offered his services to musicians with only Russian citizenship, but they refused to talk to him in writing.

Read also on ForumDaily:

Charles III will abdicate the throne to give the crown to his son William

Six people taken to hospital after American Airlines hard landing in Hawaii

Brit faces $120 fine for bad joke on plane

Do you want more important and interesting news about life in the USA and immigration to America? — support us donate! Also subscribe to our page Facebook. Select the “Priority in display” option and read us first. Also, don't forget to subscribe to our РєР ° РЅР ° Р »РІ Telegram  and Instagram- there is a lot of interesting things there. And join thousands of readers ForumDaily New York — there you will find a lot of interesting and positive information about life in the metropolis.