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Russia’s Buranovo Grannies folk band unfazed over listing on notorious Ukrainian blacklist

Current soloists Anna Prokopyeva, Valentina Serebrennikova, and Yekaterina Antonova were reportedly added for allegedly violating Ukraine’s borders and repeatedly performing in Crimea and Donbass

MOSCOW, July 22. /TASS/. Members of the Buranovo Grannies (Buranovskiye Babushki) music collective say they consider themselves true Russians and are not afraid of being listed in the database of Ukraine’s controversial Peacemaker website, they told TASS.

"We are true Russians, so we’re not afraid of any Peacemaker!" the performers said unanimously.

TASS earlier reviewed the site’s database, which confirms that the Buranovo Grannies have been listed since 2020. Current soloists Anna Prokopyeva, Valentina Serebrennikova, and Yekaterina Antonova were reportedly added for allegedly violating Ukraine’s borders and repeatedly performing in Crimea and Donbass.

The database also includes members of the original group that represented Russia at the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest with the song "Party for Everybody," which earned second place. The listed members include Natalia Pugacheva, Grania Baisarova, Alevtina Begisheva, Zoya Dorodova, Galina Koneva, Valentina Pyatchenko, and Olga Tuktareva - recognized as People’s Artists of Udmurtia - as well as Yekaterina Shklyaeva, who passed away in 2024 at the age of 86. All were reportedly added to the Peacemaker database in 2020 for performing in Crimea.

Peacemaker

The infamous Peacemaker (Mirotvorets) website was launched in 2014 with the stated aim of identifying and publishing the personal data of individuals deemed to pose a threat to Ukraine’s national security. In recent years, it has listed journalists, artists, and politicians who have visited Crimea, Donbass, or otherwise drawn the disapproval of the site’s operators.

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