Comedian Komissarenko: I like to joke about Lukashenka, that’s why I live in Warsaw | Belarus: view from Europe – DW special project | DV
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The Belarusian stand-up comedian Slava Komissarenko, in his words, Lukashenka sent “a minibus with KGB officers” to Moscow for animals, fled Russia to Ukraine, and after the start of the war there – to Poland. Here, tickets for his concerts are sold out in a matter of minutes. Komissarenko promises to send aid to Ukraine with the proceeds from the statements of the media. DW report from the comedian’s concert in Warsaw on May 1st.
Bcb-flag at the concert of Komissarenko
In the hall of the Warsaw musical theater “Roma”, where Slava Komissarenko was in public, attention was immediately attracted by a young man with white-red-white (in Belarusian – white-red-white, bchb. – Red.) flag. Mark is a student, he came to Poland from Grodno.
Mark and Kirill at the concert of comedian Komissarenko
“I came here to study and at some point I thought that I just couldn’t go back home. I was the organizer of some protests in our city (after the presidential elections in 2020. – Red.), many of my friends are sitting. The police started looking for me, – the young man publishes. – I came to Slava to support Belarusians, to see my own people. I’m not from Warsaw, from a small town, but I came to the concert. A black and white flag from Belarus, this is a memory, I took it to all the protests.”
His friend Kirill came with Mark, he moved to Warsaw from Gomel, because, according to him, criminal liability is dangerous for his homeland: “First I moved from Gomel to St. Petersburg, and from there to Warsaw.”
Two other viewers who agreed to speak with DW wished to remain anonymous. “We’ve been here for eight years, we studied Kalinovsky’s program. We are watching what is happening in Belarus, there is nothing to comment on, terrible things. We come to Belarus, but it is dangerous, you can not return. If you are from Poland, you are a priori an enemy. Therefore, even a terrible land, and also for the fact that you are leaving, and relatives told, “the girls admitted.
“Putin comes to my house for the second time”
Stand-up comedians Maksim Konoval and Bekir Mammadiev performed at Komissarenko’s opening act. Konoval was originally from Novopolotsk, but lived in Kyiv for 9 years, after the start of the war in Ukraine he moved to Poland. I went earlier, if during the speeches he said that he was from Belarus, now it is necessary to clarify that “when from Belarus and from Kyiv.”
Mamediev is a Crimean Tatar, I have been living in Ukraine since 2014: “I am from Crimea, and Putin has been coming to my house for the second time.” Now Mamediev volunteers in Lvov, in Warsaw, he came for humanitarian aid, there was an opportunity to speak. In the last month in Ukraine comedians give concerts in bomb shelters. “In a bomb shelter, a light fighter, especially during an air raid, you can say: “If you don’t like it, go free,” Mamediev jokes.
“I joked about Lukashenka in Russia – he left for Kyiv”
Slava Komissarenko himself began his speech with an owl hundred meme phrases of Alexander Lukashenko, the official Russian invasion of Ukraine. In this regard, Komissarenko noted that this was a new concert, and the stories tell “where the attack on Belarus was being prepared from.” After the comic, he nostalgized about the pre-war time: “How cool it was before the war: I gave an interview to Dudya, I had a concert on Youtube, I hid from the KGB.”
Many of Lukashenka’s phrases have become memes
In January, Komissarenko left Russia for Ukraine. According to the comedian, he was warned that his Belarusian special services were going to “steal him to Moscow and take him by car to Belarus.” In his speeches, the comedian spoke more than once about the political situation in his homeland and about Alexander Lukashenko. In an interview with Yuri Dud (the video was recognized as extremist by Belarusian letters. – Red.) Komissarenko claimed that his security forces were looking for his parents in Minsk.
The message that a criminal case was initiated against the stand-up comedian on “slander against the president” (Article 367 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus) appeared in the pro-government Telegram channels. The maximum punishment under this article is up to 5 years of freedom.
Lukashenka is “ready to share” criminals with Putin
At a concert in Warsaw, Komissarenko said that “a minibus with KGB officers left for Moscow, who” “walked” around his house for a week, and then “began to write SMS” with the arrival of the meeting.
“I like to joke about Lukashenka, that’s why I live in Warsaw now. I joked about Lukashenka in Belarus – I left for Russia, I joked about Lukashenka in Russia – I left for Kyiv, I joked about Lukashenka in Kyiv, the war started, I left for Poland. It remains to joke in the Baltics , and I will take him into the ring,” Komissarenko shared with the audience in Warsaw.
He also joked about the close relationship between Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus and Vladimir Putin and suggested that not only the KGB, but also the FSB was looking for him, because both Russia and Lukashenka are “ready to share” prisons with Putin.
They refused the evening concert because the Belarusian
The comedian spoke a little about his life in Poland. Now Komissarenko, according to his statement, is engaged in paperwork (obviously, we are talking about a residence permit. – Red.). The comedian admitted that he was lucky to rent an apartment in Warsaw and that while choosing housing, applicants will need “a diploma, a certificate of employment and a creative number.”
In the near future, Komissarenko has new concerts planned in Warsaw, Wroclaw, Prague and Krakow. He previously said that the performance in Krakow took place on a new basis due to the fact that the owners of the venues where consent is supposed to have turned him down due to nationality.
“The administration of the significance of the site in Krakow refused a serious concert, because I am Belarusian, which means I support Lukashenka. The information that I support Lukashenka so much that I have been on the wanted list for four months did not convince them. Belarus was preparing an attack,” the then comedian ironically remarked on Instagram.
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