All members of the Bi-2 group flew to Israel from Thailand. They called their detention the “Russian trace”

All members of the Bi-2 group flew to Israel from Thailand. Egor Bortnik (Leva) believes that the Russian authorities are to blame for their detention. A video of the musicians, recorded at Tel Aviv airport, was published by the video agency RT Ruptly.

“Everyone told us that this was a Russian trace. The Russian consulate specifically [made] an order for the Bi-2 group in order to extradite us to Russia at the end. For what? Well, you understand. Play on spoons,” he said.

In turn, Alexander Uman (Shura) thanked the staff of the Israeli and Australian embassies, friends from America and human rights activists for their assistance in the release. “We are free. We continue to move forward on the tour,” he noted.

The day before, a lawyer for the Bi-2 group told Kholod that on January 31, the consuls of Israel and Australia discussed the issue of deportation of the group members for several hours with representatives of the Thai Foreign Ministry. “After which they said: “Get the fuck out to Israel,” Uman added today.

Members of the Bi-2 group were detained on January 24 after a concert on the island of Phuket. They were reportedly in the country on tourist visas and without work permits. The musicians spent a week in prison. They were kept in a cage for 80 people in the open air. Their phones were taken away and they were not provided with translations of court documents.

Earlier it was reported that the Consul General of Russia in Phuket, Vladimir Sosnov, demanded that the group members be deported to Russia.

Part of the group was threatened with deportation to Russia, since they entered Thailand using their Russian passports. Meanwhile, after reports appeared about the detention of “Bi-2” in Thailand and the possible deportation of musicians to Russia, pro-government telegram channels began writing about “social activists” who demand that a criminal case be initiated against the group’s members and detention immediately after arriving in the country.

At the end of May 2023, the leader of the Bi-2 group, Leva (Egor Bortnik), was recognized as a “foreign agent.” Before this, he said that he would not return to Russia.

Under one of the Instagram posts where Victory Day was discussed, the musician wrote that “Putin’s Russia only causes disgust and disgust,” and that “Putin and all his mentally retarded trash destroyed the country.”

Performances of the Bi-2 group began to be canceled in different cities of Russia after the musicians refused to play in front of the “For the President” banner in Omsk in 2022. Later, Bi-2 concerts were also canceled in Kyrgyzstan.

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