LEPSVERIDZE / Leps Grigory Viktorovych

ЛЕПСВЕРІДЗЕ / Лепс Григорій Вікторович
ЛЕПСВЕРИДЗЕ / Лепс Григорий Викторович
LEPSVERIDZE / Leps Grigory Viktorovych

He is known as one of putin's favorite artists.
He has systematically supported russia's armed aggression against Ukraine since 2014 and publicly expresses his respect and affection for putin. He glorifies the war crimes of the occupiers, supports putin's policies and the kremlin regime.
On June 14, 2023, during a press conference of the russian media holding russian Media Group at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, together with Nikolai Baskov, Elena Severgina, Yulia Baranovskaya and the head of the russian Media Group, Vladimir Kiselev, he announced the decision to pay the russian military a cash reward of 700 thousand/1 million rubles for the destruction of Leopard 1/Leopard2 battle tanks that were transferred to the Armed Forces of Ukraine by Western partners. The russian military received certificates for this award in November 2023 at the Golden Gramophone national music award ceremony. Lespveridze posted a video on the Internet confirming the delivery of the certificates with the promised reward.
He has repeatedly performed at mass events in support of the occupiers. In particular, on March 18, 2015, he took part in the concert "We are together!" dedicated to the anniversary of russia's annexation of Ukrainian Crimea, and on March 18, 2018, he spoke at the rally-concert "russia. Sevastopol. Crimea" in Moscow, and on March 18, 2022, at a rally-concert dedicated to the anniversary of russia's annexation of Ukrainian Crimea at the Luzhniki Stadium. On April 12, 2022, he held a charity concert under the slogans "For russia" and "For Peace without Nazism" in support of the war against Ukraine and the russian military. In the fall of 2022, together with other pro-government russian pop stars who support russia's aggression against Ukraine, he took part in the filming of the song and propaganda video "We Will Arise". On February 22, 2023, he took part in a rally-concert in support of russia's war against Ukraine, performing on stage with putin. On March 18, 2024, he performed at a pro-government rally-concert dedicated to the tenth anniversary of russia's annexation of Ukrainian Crimea and putin's victory in the presidential election.
In July 2022, he was awarded the honorary title of People's Artist of the russian federation for his "great contribution to the development of pop art." He has repeatedly visited the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine with concerts in support of the occupation authorities and the kremlin regime. In particular, on August 10, 2014, he held a concert in Yalta, on June 12, 2015, he performed in Crimea on the occasion of the Day of russia, on July 19, 2019, he took part in the bike show of the Night Wolves motorcycle club on the Sevastopol-Yalta highway, on September 08, 2020, he performed in Donetsk at concerts dedicated to the "Day of Liberation of Donbas" and on May 11, 2022, in support of the so-called "DPR". In August 2023, he performed in the temporarily occupied Crimea at the Tavrida-Art festival. On March 28, 2023, together with the russian Presidential Ombudsman for Children's Rights Maria Lvova-Belova and the head of the so-called "DPR" Denis Pushilin, he visited the Donetsk Republican Trauma Center. In particular, Lepsveridze visited the russian military with a concert in the hospital and received the Order of Merit for the Republic, III degree. In July 2024, as part of the Slavic Bazaar in Vitebsk international art festival, Alexander Lukashenko personally presented Lepsveridze with the festival's main prize, the special award of the President of the Republic of Belarus "Through Art to Peace and Mutual Understanding."