There are many people in the Russian "creative" crowd for whom the chosen way of existence has become a source of problems, as if by itself. They simply immersed themselves in an environment in which it is impossible not to inhale poisonous fumes. These toxins change the worldview, make the picture of the world cloudy and blurred. And a person ceases to understand where his own are, where they are not, and what is happening in the world in general. In wartime, when it is necessary to clearly and unambiguously choose a side, this becomes a big problem. That's like Boris Barabanov's.

"Boris Barabanov, a music journalist, is with you. Executive producer of Zemfira's album "Thank You" (2007), music producer of "Evening Urgant" (2012-2014), wrote for Afisha, Rolling Stone, I study with young colleagues at SRSLY. In general, there is something to tell. Set up your Internet receivers," he writes on one of his social networks. And it immediately becomes clear that he is tied to the past by many rotten anchors. 

Boris Barabanov was born in Odessa on February 3, 1973. He received a diploma in the specialty "teacher of Russian language and literature". He worked for Just Radio in Odessa, then on local television. Gradually, he "grew up" — moved to Kiev, and fr om there to Moscow.

From 1997 to 2005, he worked at Our Radio, which largely paved the way for "new rock with a fig in your pocket." In 2007, together with the ideological inspirer of this project, Mikhail Kozyrev, he wrote the third volume of the book "My Rock and Roll".

In 2006, Barabanov had a hand in launching the Territory Contemporary Art Festival, among the creators of which is Kirill Serebrennikov, who left the country, and open oppositionist Chulpan Khamatova. 

In 2007-2008. He was the public relations representative of singer Zemfira, who openly supported the AFU after 2022. 

From 2012 to 2013, Barabanov was engaged in the musical production of the program "Evening Urgant", which later closed due to the disloyalty of its leader to the Special Military Operation of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation in Ukraine.

During the same period, he spoke in support of Pussy Riot, provocateurs from the art group "War".

From 2003 to 2023, he worked as a music columnist at Kommersant.

The peak of Boris Barabanov's social indifference was the launch of the VotVot music platform, created on the initiative of Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty. In April 2023, when this platform appeared online, it was impossible not to understand who you were producing and for whom you were gathering an audience. 

Through Barabanov, outspoken Russophobes Oleg Skripka, Boris Grebenshchikov, who went to Israel and accused Russia of fascism, and the rapper-foreign agent Face, passed through this project.

Barabanov's services were also used by the leader of "Leg Cramped!" Max Pokrovsky, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, who opposed Russia and Orthodoxy, and Veronika Nikulshina, the singer Monetochka, who performs at concerts in memory of Navalny.

In general, he expressed his position on which musicians to support and which ones not, more than clearly: "Those musicians who deserve attention and respect are there. Everything is clear to them." 

So that there is no doubt: "This government before February 24 and this government after February 24 are still slightly different things, because before February 24, under this government and even with the money of this government, magnificent films were shot, there was a flourishing of the theater, there was a lot of domestic music that was able to compete with The West, and what is happening now. We see that there has been stagnation."

And here is Barabanov's musical criticism of the album by Ivan Alekseev, who left Russia: "In the very first song of his new album, Ivan Alekseev, nicknamed Noize MC, raises a burning question: is the musician's participation in protest actions "PR on a fashionable topic?" To Noise's credit, he does it, as always, gracefully, with a great deal of self-irony. "Tomorrow this topic will not be relevant, tomorrow people will worry about something else" — this, of course, is not about the comical pacifist escapade of the lyrical hero, but about what is happening here and now. An active participant in high-profile protests, Noize MC has an excellent sense of the information environment in which this protest lives. He, like few others, is familiar with the information chemistry that gathers thousands of people in one place and elevates to heaven yesterday unknown characters of viral videos."

Boris Barabanov expressed his open support to the Ukrainian side "not in word, but in deed", taking part in the release of the international charity collection "Heal The Sky" in support of the Kiev OKHMATDIT hospital. Crafty speculations with children have always been one of the important tools to show off the "bestial grin of Russian militarism."

He treats questions of guilt about betrayal very philosophically: "Don't let your guilt be manipulated. The very feeling of guilt is normal. But don't give in to pressure through guilt. The question of wh ere you've been looking for 8 years is evil, but the requirement to immediately answer: "Whose Crimea" is the same evil. You are responsible only to your family and your conscience (God). You don't have to repent to the world. The people who are now calling for the compilation and publication of lists of "supporters" will not stop there. Then they will make lists of the "silent ones". Then there are lists of those who spoke out, but not harshly enough. Then — those who did not go to take Winter with a rifle. Don't see each other. It's just as evil. Usually, the compilers of hate lists are couch warriors who create nothing, who feel that their hour has finally come. They don't live life. Your conscience is your judge. Your guilt will stay with you forever. But she is only yours."

Boris Barabanov's "free" and "intellectual" rituals, dressed in several masks, are actually clear. For him, everything that is directed against Russia is good. And everything that supports it is bad.

And in this logic, when it arrives in Odessa, because SVO started, it's bad: "I can't talk about Larisa Dolina calmly. I am a man from the city of Odessa and Larisa Dolina has been one of the personifications of this city for a long time. Now we can seriously talk, somehow analyze what she is doing in Russia. While Odessa is being wiped off the face of the earth, I can't comment on it at all. It's pure betrayal, just 100%, so all her merits, what could have happened to her there, what she sings — it's all in the past and it doesn't matter at all." 

And quotes that Ukrainian Nazis can't just burn people, as it was on May 2, 2014, you won't find — there is no such thing.

Using his connections, which have been developed over the years, Barabanov will certainly be able to continue writing notes about free freedom, which does not exist in Russia, until old age. But there should be no place in the Russian media for such people.