Yesterday it became known about the cancellation of the performance of the leader of the Aquarium group Boris Grebenshchikov at the site of St. Petersburg State University (SPbSU) on December 23. Writer Boris Akunin reported this. “Boris Grebenshchikov said on the phone that the university suddenly canceled his scheduled concert and meeting with students,” said Mr. Akunin. “They were afraid that some kind of unreliability might happen there.” Let us note that another rally against the falsification of parliamentary elections is scheduled for December 24. Similar rallies, which took place in Moscow, St. Petersburg and dozens of other cities, attracted a record number of protesters in recent years. The leader of Aquarium (it is located outside of Russia) confirmed to Kommersant that he connects the cancellation of the performance with the upcoming rallies: “This is a local initiative - no matter what happens.” “They gave me a compliment by the very fact of the ban,” he added. Let us note that previously Mr. Grebenshchikov did not allow sharp opposition statements about the political situation in the country.

The executive director of the club, Georgy Medvedev (he previously taught at the university), told Kommersant that Boris Grebenshchikov’s meeting with students was scheduled for December 23 at the discussion club of the Faculty of Philology “Meetings on the University Embankment”. It is curious that the club is headed by the dean of the philological department and the president of St. Petersburg State University Lyudmila Verbitskaya (in the 2007 elections to the city’s legislative assembly she was one of the three “United Russia”). Mr. Medvedev said that the event had been postponed several times before, and last Friday the meeting was canceled citing the fact that “students need to prepare for the session.” “No convincing reasons were given, the decision was made by the university management,” Mr. Medvedev clarified.

The management of St. Petersburg State University has a different version. According to the head of the rector’s office, Ilya Dementyev, Boris Grebenshchikov’s participation as a university graduate (he graduated from the Faculty of Applied Mathematics) at the university is “welcome” and he speaks here once every five to seven years. According to him, negotiations about the next meeting are indeed underway, but the date has not been set, and “it is difficult to reschedule something that has not been scheduled.” This was confirmed by Vice-Rector of the Faculty of Philology Sergei Bogdanov. According to him, the meeting with the musician could take place at the beginning of the new semester. Lyudmila Verbitskaya was unavailable for comment yesterday.

“Since everything happened like this, I even more want to organize a concert for students,” the leader of Aquarium told Kommersant. Georgy Medvedev said that the meeting with the musician could still take place on December 23, but not at St. Petersburg State University, but at the site of the European University in St. Petersburg. According to him, an agreement on this has been reached with the leadership of the university. Anna Pushkarskaya, St. Petersburg; Oleg Kashin

Boris Grebenshchikov was not given a chance to speak