Comedian flees Russia fearing for his life as police open inquiry into jokes about Putin
A POPULAR stand-up comedian says he has been forced to flee Russia after reports of a police investigation into his jokes about Vladimir Putin.
Alexander Dolgopolov told The Sunday Telegraph he fears for his safety as he could face the same type of charges that led to members of the punk band Pussy Riot being jailed for nearly two years.
Dolgopolov, who has gone to Israel with his girlfriend, said he knew he was in trouble when a club in St Petersburg in which he performed last year sent him a copy of a police request asking about a YouTube video of his show there and his identity.
A day later investigators showed up at the venue of his next gig in Moscow.
This is when the comedian decided to flee. “It’s not going to end well,” he said.
In his show last February he joked about the immaculate conception, then moved on to politics, saying: “There are people who support Putin, and there are people who can read, write and reach logical conclusions.”
Dolgopolov, 25, belongs to a younger generation of Russian comedians who owe their popularity solely to YouTube videos and live gigs and whose jokes would bar them from state television, which insists that comedy is strictly non-political.
The Interior Ministry in the Moscow region confirmed police launched the inquiry into the comedian after receiving a complaint regarding “disseminating information online that insults religious feelings”. In 2012, three members of Pussy Riot were jailed after an anti-Putin performance. However, they were tried under a new law for insulting religious feelings.
Dolgopolov flew to Israel on Thursday. He says he has yet to figure out if he can apply for asylum there or elsewhere.
“I’d come back if I felt safe and if I knew that nothing was going to happen to me,” he told The Sunday Telegraph. “I don’t right now.”