Russian rapper Morgenshtern says he was offered a way back to Russia: visit the occupied Donbas, apologize, or fork over $1 million

Source: vDud

People with ties to the Russian authorities offered musician Alisher Morgenshtern a chance to return to Russia if he publicly supported the war, Morgenshtern said in an interview with YouTuber Yury Dud.

Morgenshtern – rehab, Liza, a new name, a new life / vDud

vDud

Morgenshtern said he looked into ways to “solve the problem” himself. The intermediaries’ condition was a public act: a trip to the occupied territories or a public apology.

He refused, he said, because he does not think he did anything wrong and does not want to support the war. Any trip to the Donbas is a political statement, he said: “Nobody just goes there.”

There was also an option to “pay and do nothing,” Morgenshtern said. The intermediaries promised to work things out with the authorities for $1 million.

His departure from Russia followed a meeting at Russia’s Presidential Administration, Morgenshtern said. He was threatened there with a 15-year sentence and advised to avoid “provocative actions.” One example was his joke about the “plastic cup and the cop.”

Before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Morgenshtern spoke favorably about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s policies. He left the country in November 2021, after Russia’s Investigative Committee began reviewing his work for possible drug propaganda.

Russia’s Justice Ministry designated Morgenshtern a “foreign agent” in May 2022. In 2024, authorities opened a criminal case against him for failing to comply with his obligations under that status and placed him on the wanted list. In April 2026, a Moscow court fined Morgenshtern 7 million rubles in absentia over posts published without the required “foreign agent” disclaimer. His property in Moscow has been frozen.

At Meduza, we are committed to transparency about our use of artificial intelligence in the newsroom. The story you’re reading was written by one of our living, breathing journalists and translated from Russian using an AI model configured to follow our strict editorial standards. This translation process is the result of extensive testing and refinements to ensure our English-language coverage is timely and accurate. A Meduza editor reviews every draft before publication.

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Russian rapper Morgenshtern says he was offered a way back to Russia: visit the occupied Donbas, apologize, or fork over $1 million

The joke about the “plastic cup and the cop”

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Russian rapper Morgenshtern says he was offered a way back to Russia: visit the occupied Donbas, apologize, or fork over $1 million

The joke about the “plastic cup and the cop”

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