A Moscow court has ordered the “liquidation” of Russia’s popular Grushinsky music festival, an event that has been held annually in the southern Samara region since 1968.
The court’s decision follows an earlier announcement by the festival’s organizers, who said they would be forced to cancel this year’s event due to “possible risks… in the current circumstances.”
“The 51st Grushinsky Festival will not take place in the summer of 2024 in its traditional format and in its usual place,” the organizers said in a statement published on the Russian social media website VKontakte.
“We sincerely care about the life and well-being of every attendee,” the statement continued. “[But] we are certain that singing songs around open-air campfires and sitting shoulder to shoulder on the mountain… is not possible in today’s realities.”
The statement did not provide further details.
Last year, federal lawmaker Alexander Khinshtein criticized festival organizers for not allowing songs in support of Moscow’s war on Ukraine to be played at the event. It was not immediately clear if the lower-house State Duma member played a role in Grushinsky’s closure.
Over the years, the Grushinsky Festival featured some of Russia’s most iconic musical artists, including Soviet singer-songwriter Bulat Okudzhava and Yury Shevchuk, the legendary frontman of the rock band DDT.
