Russian drag queen faces administrative charges for singing national anthem with pride flag

Yekaterinburg police have opened an administrative case against Sergey Nechayev, a military veteran who performs under the drag name Bomba Kibersisi, for singing the Russian national anthem in a local nightclub while waving an LGBTQ+ pride flag.

According to police spokesperson Valery Gorelykh, Nechayev is being charged with “violating the rules for using Russian state symbols” and faces a fine of up to 3,000 rubles (about $50).

“To my great regret, this offense is not punishable by arrest,” said Gorelykh. According to him, both Nechayev and the club’s management have “repented for the incident and acknowledged that the police officers’ motivations were right.” He added that “the Middle Urals are not America and not Europe, with their pseudo-democracies, and these kinds of tricks will never take root here.”

On August 7, after Bomba Kibersisi’s performance caught media attention, it drew criticism from State Duma deputy Vitaly Milonov, the author of Russia’s first regional “gay propaganda” law. Milonov called for all gay clubs in Russia to be closed — and replaced by “children’s ice cream shops.”

Fame, the club where the performance took place, said that Kibersisi had made a “thoughtless mistake,” and apologized on social media to “everyone who was offended by the performance.”

Sergey Nechayev himself said that he sang the national anthem to express support for his country.

I’m a veteran of the military activities in Chechnya and a member of the LGBT community. I’m a patriot, I support Russia, and I’m proud to be one of its citizens. I didn’t think people could interpret [my performance as an expression of] disrespect to state symbols or as an affront.

On August 11, a Nechayev posted a message on Bomba Kibersisi's social media page:

People! Where is all this rancor and hate coming from? [...] I didn’t think you would make my performance so public. Yes, yes — it’s you who did that. I didn’t ask you to. I perform a lot of Russian songs and Russian folk songs. I didn’t think that singing the national anthem of my country would be considered a violation of the rules for using state symbols. Much less an insult or a desecration. I live in this country, I love this country, and I like living here!

Nechayev noted that he performed the anthem for an audience that understood his intent, that he “wasn’t running around the public square,” and that he wasn’t making any kind of call to action.