Sergei Nikitin refused to perform at the anniversary of Yuri Bashmet because of the “Dima Yakovlev law”

Composer and performer of the original song Sergei Nikitin refused to participate in the anniversary evening of violist Yuri Bashmet due to disagreements over the “anti-orphan” law, Ekho Moskvy reports.

Explaining the reason for this decision, Nikitin said on Monday: “I do not consider it possible for myself to be at this evening due to serious disagreements with the hero of the day regarding the adopted “Dima Yakovlev Law” and its attitude towards President V.V. Putin.”

Last week it became known that musician Yuri Bashmet supported the ban on American adoption of Russian children. He expressed the conviction that the United States should not interfere in Russian affairs, and expressed solidarity with President Vladimir Putin: “I myself do not consider America my main boss, and this is why I adore Putin, that he knows how to say: “We are not America, We are Russia, and we don’t need American bosses.”

In December 2012, the US Senate approved the Magnitsky Act , according to which a number of Russian officials and law enforcement officers who are involved in human rights violations in the Russian Federation are prohibited from entering the territory of the United States, in addition, financial sanctions are imposed on them. In response, the Russian parliament first introduced a bill providing for the adoption of similar measures against American citizens involved in violating the rights of Russians, and then adopted an “anti-Magnitsky” law - the “Dima Yakovlev Law” , prohibiting Americans from adopting Russian orphans. President Vladimir Putin, following the Duma and the Federation Council, approved this law at the end of December.

The adoption of the “anti-Magnitsky law” caused a wide public outcry, and on January 13, tens of thousands of people took to the “March against scoundrels” in Moscow . Novaya Gazeta collected 100 thousand signatures against the “Dima Yakovlev law,” but the State Duma did not consider them .

Sergei Nikitin is a composer and performer working in the genre of art songs. He performs in a duet with his wife Tatyana. Works performed by them, in particular, are heard in such films as “Moscow Doesn’t Believe in Tears” and “Forgotten Melody for Flute.”

Three concerts are dedicated to the 60th anniversary of Yuri Bashmet (January 24): January 23 in the Great Hall of the Conservatory, January 24 in the Tchaikovsky Hall and January 27 on the stage of the Great Hall of the Conservatory. Sergei Nikitin is announced as a participant in the concert in the Tchaikovsky Hall.