Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Morgenshtern has performed in Vilnius twice, but Benkunskas accused him of supporting Russian President Vladimir Putin and not defining the Crimean Peninsula as part of Ukraine.
“I cannot sit idly by and watch as an artist who cannot answer whose Crimea is, publicly expresses his respect for Putin, and who … was added to the Ukrainian Ministry of Culture’s list of persons posing a threat to national security, comes to Vilnius,” the mayor said.
Morgenshtern is known for controversial comments he has made in interviews throughout his career, that have also landed him in hot water with Russian authorities.
In 2020, Morgenshtern said Putin is a “tough guy,” but refused to assess his political record, merely stating that he didn’t trust the Russian president or any other politician.
In a 2021 interview with a Ukrainian journalist, Morgenshtern said he hadn’t known about the war in Donbas and had no interest in learning about it. “Crimea belongs to Crimeans,” the rapper said.
In another interview the same year, he criticized Moscow for spending millions of rubles annually on the May 9 Victory Day celebrations. After Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Morgenshtern called for peace in March 2022 in a music video.