Putin warns artists on ‘dangerous behavior’

Mongolian rapper beaten up

MOSCOW, Dec 3, (AFP): Vladimir Putin on Friday told artists not to confuse freedom of expression with “outrageously dangerous behaviour” and suggested the Charlie Hebdo massacre could have been avoided if the magazine had not insulted Islam.

The Russian President told members of the artistic community not to “divide society” during a televised debate with theatre and screen star Yevgeny Mironov who voiced concerns about growing restrictions on artistic freedom in Russia.

The Russian strongman said there was a “very subtle line between what I would call dangerously outrageous behaviour and creative freedom”.

“It’s a very subtle thing, a very subtle line. It depends on a feeling of tact, from all of us: officialdom on the one hand and people in creative professions on the other”, he said.

“Officials often act not because they want to block something ... many don’t want tragedies like in Paris to be repeated here”, he said. “We must keep this in mind and not let it come to that”.

Putin

Mironov, who heads the Theatre of Nations in Moscow, told Putin in the televised exchange that fears are growing in creative circles over restrictions on artistic expression.

“Creative freedom is guaranteed by the law of our country” and bans “can be enforced only through a legal process”, Mironov said.

In recent months, religious and politically conservative activists have interrupted theatre productions and stormed galleries and defaced exhibits.

Orthodox activists this year campaigned to close a provincial staging of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical “… Superstar”.

Theatre director Konstantin Raikin in October warned of a risk of “return to Stalin’s times”.

Last year the director of a Siberian staging of Richard Wagner’s opera Tannhaeuser went on trial for offending believers, although the charges were eventually dropped.

The Russian arts scene, particularly its lively theatre productions, depend on state funding, making them particularly vulnerable to official decisions and self-censorship.

ULAN BATOR:

Fears

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One of Mongolia’s top rappers was beaten up by a Russian diplomat after performing wearing a swastika — a traditional Mongolian symbol — the singer’s lawyer and police alleged Friday.

Amarmandakh Sukhbaatar, known as Amraa and lead singer of Khar Sarnai — Black Rose — took to the stage at an event in Ulan Bator wearing a red deel, a traditional Mongolian robe, embroidered with a swastika.

Afterwards he was savagely assaulted by a Russian diplomat, his lawyer and his father told reporters Friday.

The broken cross symbol is generally believed to have its origins in India thousands of years ago and its use has been recorded centuries ago in Mongolia, long before it was appropriated by Adolf Hitler.

Tens of millions of Soviet citizens died fighting against the forces of Nazi Germany in the Second World War, known as the Great Patriotic War in Russia.

The singer — who speaks Russian and was a guest performer on Mongolia’s Got Talent last year — was in a coma for around 10 days after the assault, said his father Sevjidiin Sukhbaatar.

“My son was hit in the face several times with a metal object and was seriously injured. His brain was seriously hurt”, he said, wearing a deel and fur hat and displaying a book of traditional swastika patterns.