WASHINGTON, August 23. /TASS/. Roger Waters, one of the founders of the British rock band Pink Floyd, lashed out at the attempts to cancel Russian culture in the West branding this crusade as completely idiotic and insane, when commenting on the refusal of Western nations to cooperate with Russian artists and musicians.
"It's completely idiotic. And just shows the way these people's brains were," he said, and went on to castigate these moves "to ban concerts of Tchaikovsky’s music or tell people they can’t read Dostoyevsky. It’s insane, obviously," the musician told TASS.
Waters lamented that a similar situation exists in sports, where Russian athletes are deprived of the opportunity to participate in international competitions due to the situation in Ukraine. He said that two weeks ago, he had sent a letter to President of UEFA Aleksander Ceferin, spotlighting the unjustified suspension of Russian clubs and teams from participation in tournaments. The musician wondered why similar measures were not taken against Israel due to the actions of its authorities in Palestine. He also recalled that the US team would participate in the World Cup in Qatar.
"Did you not notice that they invaded Iraq in 2003 and killed? We don't know, maybe a million people or so. They killed a million people. And yet they're going to be playing in the World Cup," the founder of Pink Floyd stressed.
"You have one set of rules for you and another set for your enemy. You've decided that Russia is your enemy. So, you're going to ban them from international [games], but you've decided Israel is your ally. So, you're not going to ban them and you're not going to ban yourself," Waters said, commenting on those who introduce bans against Russian athletes.
In late February, FIFA and UEFA temporarily suspended Russian football clubs and teams from participating in international competitions due to the situation in Ukraine. In this regard, the Russian team was unable to compete for a ticket to the 2022 World Cup in the playoff matches of the qualifying tournament.
Earlier, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, called public ostracism, which is observed in relation to Russian culture in the West, self-destruction.