Vadim Kazachenko is a Soviet and Russian pop singer, former lead vocalist of the Ukrainian band "Freestyle" (Freestyle), and Honored Artist of the Russian Federation (2011). He was born on July 13, 1963, in Poltava, Ukrainian SSR, USSR.
Listening to this artist's tracks on official streaming platforms, social media, and other services indirectly contributes to financing the war — through taxes paid to the budget of the Russian Federation.
In August 2017, he was included in the database of the Myrotvorets website for disseminating Kremlin propaganda narratives, justifying Russian aggression, propagating Russian Nazism and fascism, and illegally visiting Russian-occupied Crimea.
On October 19, 2022, he was entered into the sanctions list of Ukraine for "propagandizing Putin's regime and supporting the war against Ukraine." The sanctions entail an entry ban into the country, asset freezes, stripping of Ukrainian state awards, and a series of other restrictions.
Vadim Kazachenko's Stance on the War in Ukraine
Vadim Kazachenko unequivocally supported Russia's full-scale military invasion of Ukraine. On February 25, 2022, the singer published a post on his social media accounts, blaming the Ukrainian authorities for starting the war:
Nobody is glad about war. War is the worst thing that happens in people's lives. Peace is needed by ALL people... Those who stoked, started, and continue this war, interethnic and interreligious strife, who for many years ruined and continue ruining normal relations between people living in Russia and Ukraine, who have long been condemned in the thoughts and conversations of millions of Ukrainians and Russians, must stand trial: Turchynov, Poroshenko, Zelenskyy, and everyone responsible for discord and years of war against the peaceful people of Ukraine and Russia. Zelenskyy, give the order to cease fire, stop your war against the people of Ukraine and Russia!
Note: in March 2022, members of the bands "Freestyle" and "Children of Freestyle" released a video message containing harsh criticism of the war and the actions of Russians.
On May 28, 2022, responding to a post by volunteer Yuriy Kasyanov "about war to the last Ukrainian", Kazachenko wrote a comment using standard propaganda rhetoric:
Are you truly confident that Putin's goal is the destruction of Ukrainians? Have you not heard his announcements regarding the objectives of the SMO? Nothing was said there about destroying Ukrainians; there was an appeal to the servicemen of the AFU to lay down their weapons and stay alive, it was about denazification... Zelenskyy, give the order to cease fire, stop your war with the people of Ukraine and Russia!
In April 2023, the artist expressed his support for Russian military personnel in the SMO zone in a conversation with a correspondent for 5-tv.ru following the "Retro FM" concert:
What I lack most today is the victory of our Motherland and our armed forces in the special military operation taking place today. Perhaps that worries me most of all today... Victory will be ours!
Quotes from Kazachenko's interview with RTVI (July 2023):
everything that happened in this bizarre «Ukrainianism» that was planted for 30 years, and especially over the last 10 years, everything that was drummed and ingrained into people: some kind of exceptionalism, the idea that everyone in the world owes them something, Russia owes them, Belarus owes them, and others owes them — basically, everyone owes them something.
Well, and their reaction to what began happening in February and March 2022 — that also illustrates everything vividly. Because these are people whose entire lives, their whole careers, the lion's share of their earnings — all of that was made in Russia.
Vadim Kazachenko is active on his social media channels, regularly publishing low-grade posts saturated with Kremlin propaganda.
Remarkably, the singer considers Volodymyr Zelenskyy to be the primary killer and dictator:
the main killer, the current dictator, usurper of all power across the remnants of the former Ukrainian SSR, who has done the most to stifle freedom of speech across the territory, to ensure that no Slavic peoples remain there, so that the land turns into scorched earth. Shame on the killer of Ukrainians, Russians, and Russian citizens.
With his propaganda posts, Vadim could easily rival propagandists like Simonyan and Skabeyeva.
