Controversial Russian comedian Yury Khovansky has reportedly fled Russia for Serbia to avoid being drafted

Russian blogger Yury Khovansky, who was accused of justifying terrorism over a song about “Nord-Ost, has fled Russia for Serbia, as reported on Wednesday, September 28. The news follows a car bomb attack on Andrey Nifedov, a key witness in Khovansky’s case.

Russian blogger Yury Khovansky has fled Russia for Serbia, according to Russian Telegram reports on Wednesday, September 28.

According to the blogger, when he found himself in pre-trial detention on criminal charges over a song on the stream, “half the country laughed at him” because he didn’t leave when he had the chance, as reported by gazeta.ru.

“Now it’s like I’m being warned by tens of thousands, not to mention the stories that the same Sobchak is covering, so I put my feet up and decided not to wait,” he said.

Khovansky added that people on social media have mocked him for suggesting that he would not be drafted but he said that he does not want to hang around to see.

“So – got my passport and a suitcase, a train station, Serbia. I hope I will be happy there,” he said.

The Russian comedian whose YouTube channel has more than 4.4 million subscribers, was detained in early June 2021, for “justification of terrorism” after he performed a song in which he spoke of children who were victims in the hostage situation at Dubrovka Theater in 2002.

The incident saw an estimated 40 gunmen take audience members and staff hostage while demanding the withdrawal of Russian forces from Chechnya.

As noted, the key witness in Khovansky’s case, blogger Andrey Nifedov, had his car bombed. Khovansky was accused of justifying terrorism over a song about “Nord-Ost”. On 20 July 2022, the criminal case was dropped due to the expiration of the statute of limitations.

Following the attack, in which Nifedov was uninjured, police launched criminal proceedings under Article 167 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation “Intentional destruction or damage to property by arson, explosion or other generally dangerous methods”.

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