“Banning it forever is global stupidity”

Crimean authorities have banned the music festivals "Kazantip" and "Bifuz" forever because they "threaten the national security of Russia"

The festive weekend in Crimea was marked by a loud squabble between the prosecutor of the republic Natalya Poklonskaya and the Crimean Federal Drug Control Service on the one hand and the organizers of the Kazantip festival on the other.

On March 5, the press service of the Federal Drug Control Service for Crimea distributed a press release: “The Kazantip drug festival is closed to Crimea.”

“Festivals of pro-drug youth subcultures have no place in Crimea. This is the general opinion of the participants of the meeting, which took place in the prosecutor's office of the Republic of Crimea," the ministry said in a statement. “The odious Kazantip festival, which the same organizers tried to hold last summer under the changed name Bifuz, has become a real headache for law enforcement.”

The Federal Drug Control Service claims that last year at Bifuz, state drug control officers detained 11 people in a state of drug intoxication.

“This is a matter of national security,” prosecutor Natalya Poklonskaya said. - The health of the younger generation should be free from addictions. The state is not against various youth actions, but everything must be within the framework of the Law. At the same time, "Kazantip", "Bifuz" and their derivatives showed an unambiguous picture.

For some reason, the meeting participants did not mention that with 11 people detained for drugs last year, Bifuz was visited by 16,000 guests.

On March 6, the organizer of the festivals, Nikita Marshunok, reacted to the statement about the ban on Kazantip and Bifuz.

“Forever is solemn and global, let's agree with that. Even if it is global nonsense. Weak authorities have always been in a hurry to ban everything new, just in case, ”he wrote on his Facebook page. - To ban forever the absolute leader of the Crimean entertainment, a project that has received worldwide recognition and at the same time try to develop poor domestic tourism, hysterically import-substitute Turkish beaches - there is little logic in this <...> We certainly will not argue with Poklonskaya. It seems that we are more dangerous and forbidden than ISIS (a terrorist organization banned in Russia).

Marshunok also apologized to the fans of the festival for being accused of drug addiction. “I will do it for the authorities, because we know that the authorities do not know how to apologize,” he said. “Thousands of people found each other here, created happy families, many gave birth to wonderful children. This spirituality and bonds cannot be erased with an eraser and cannot be banned.”

"Bifuz" and "Kazantip" are the most popular club and electronic music festivals in the post-Soviet space, held in Crimea since 2000 and gathering up to 120,000 people at their venues.