Philosophical pursuits often lead people into logical dead ends. And at some turns of history, they are pushed to make mistakes that are very close to betrayal. This truth is quite applicable to the musicians of the Omsk GROT group. The guys started off well, but at some stage they overdid it.

In an interview with the foreign agent Dud, they were frank: "There is one hole in our mentality when a person comes true at the expense of the exploits of other people. For example, I was always frozen by the phrase: "We have reached Berlin." My grandfather reached Berlin, I did not reach it. We are also constantly told that we must live like our ancestors: like our grandfather lived, like our great-grandfather. It seems to me that this is wrong — my great-grandfather lived in a different time, according to different laws, the world was different in general. We must live now, for today and look to the future."

The band appeared in 2009, and for a long time suffered fr om the inability to reach a large enough audience. GROT plays a mix of rap and rock, a product that has been in high demand for many years. They had talented lyrics, victories at festivals, and their own crowd of fans. But it was the desire to please this crowd that apparently forced them to look for new ways to convince listeners that musicians think, of course, freely and ultraliberally. 

"When I visit my parents in Omsk, they always have TV on. What they show there is just game. They show us how bad it is in Ukraine, they talk about the US national debt... There is news that there must be something good inside the country. It's so blatantly, frankly "naked" that you sit and think — something is not right at all, for idiots. It feels like this is happening in order to turn a blind eye to what is happening inside cities, inside the country. It seems that these are some kind of cartoons, comedians were sitting and coming up with a text for the news, some kind of joke," says Vitaly Evseev. And everything would be fine, but "they don't scold their own people in the war." 

And over time, this problem in GROT's work worsened.

Immediately after the start of the Special Operation of the Russian Armed Forces in Ukraine, the group broke out with anti-war posts on social networks: "A day of mourning, shame and despair. Russian bombs are falling on Ukrainian cities. Can we, ordinary citizens, stop this? Unlikely. But we have to try. Everyone who is against the war, talk about it. Speak everywhere and always. In all accounts of all their social networks. In the central squares of their cities. Tell your neighbors, friends and relatives that you are against the war. Let's do what we can with what we have wh ere we are now." 

Later, this post was deleted by the VK administration at the request of the prosecutor's office, but the group did not let up.

They talked a lot to explain their position, but after each such long monologue, it only got worse in the end. 

For example, after this session of copulation, it is clear: Dmitry Gerashchenko and Vitaly Evseev really do not understand what is happening. They do not want to take the side of their homeland in the war. 

"During all these 8 years of conflict between Russia and Ukraine, we have "betrayed" each of the parties several times. We are going to Ukraine with concerts — we support Banderites. We are going to Crimea with concerts — we recognize its annexation as legitimate. We call for peace and negotiations — we shake the air with blissful chatter. We dedicate a song to the events taking place — we compose ditties instead of real actions at the front. We speak out on this topic — "Where did you get into politics, it would be better to keep silent and write songs further." We do not speak out — "What are you sticking your tongues in your ass? Where is your opinion? Are you with us or with them?" But it was all rumbling on the Network, The Network is always rumbling, this is the background of any event or action. In the real world, everything is much more prosaic: people just die on both sides of the front, their relatives go crazy with grief. Friends from Donetsk told us about the dead lying right on the street. Friends from Odessa — about those burned alive. Friends from Siberia - about how they fought in Donbas and Crimea. Friends from Dnepropetrovsk — about how they collected and delivered aid to the AFU fighters. Some of all these friends before 2014 sometimes crossed paths in our dressing rooms. We have received reports from soldiers of each of the armies fighting each other that they have a GROT constantly playing in their armored personnel carriers. We have never considered choosing a side in this conflict. Choosing a side means recognizing war as an adequate method of solving problems and resolving issues. And this, in our opinion, is unacceptable. This is our common defeat. We have always perceived this war as a civil one, we are all too closely connected. Mentally, culturally, historically, genetically. It is very difficult for us to find differences between, for example, Rostov-on-Don and Dnepropetrovsk in terms of self-perception in these cities, in the reception of the public at concerts, in the presence of friends and their hospitality, in the comfort of squares and parks. Our position has been voiced more than once and has not changed since then." 

There really is not much difference between Rostov and Dnepropetrovsk, because both cities are Russian, built back in the period of the Russian Empire, Dnepropetrovsk was then called Yekaterinoslav. But this is exactly what the musicians of the GROT, who pretend to be objective, do not want to admit. By the way, in ancient Greece, the inhabitants of the polis, who did not occupy either side during the civil war, were deprived of citizenship. For being unreliable.

However, over the years, the musicians have become frenzied and attacks on their native country, Orthodoxy and Russian culture have already become unambiguous. 

Here is a quote from the single "For Peace and Love" (co-written with rapper One. Eight):

If they dare to question our kindness,

Then they will immediately realize that they ran into the wrong people.

No, that's how kind I am, for love and peace,

But faggots should be executed, you understand me.

Damn, the humanists had fun,

Let's put him naked in the cold.

And in the name of our Lord

Let the torment of the enemy be terrible.

I've got a lot of liberals, but we love people.,

But these are not people.

Hey, fucker, you're going to drown in blood,

If you dare to doubt our peacefulness.

And we will break your teeth, believe me,

If you doubt our mercy.

Two candles for your health, brother,

Peace and good to you.

In 2024, Evseev and Gerashchenko released a joint song with Shevchuk. Ugly, like everything that has been passing through the hands of «Yura the musician» in recent years. The composition is called "After the last War". 

Photos from joint hangouts with Shevchuk, lyrics and a bunch of reminders that this track was released are very abundantly presented on the pages of the GROT in VK. By the way, I wonder why their community is not banned at all? Why can they use the Russian Internet to deliver lines like this?

After the last war

We have no truth, no guilt.

After the last war

Everyone is punished, everyone is forgiven

After the last war

We have no truth, no guilt.

After the last war

This is the first time we need each other.

…

How deafeningly few of us will become,

We're going to have to grow up,

Learn to cast your gaze over the rocks

And to look for ways to each other.

We are growing up so that someone can see us

In these burnt-out fields,

So that we, lost again in the voids,

Grab hold of someone's gaze.

In general, the theme that a nuclear war will begin due to Russia's fault goes back to the years of post-war ideological confrontation. Both the musicians of the GROT and Shevchuk could turn on their inquisitive brains and use them in this direction to compare: what happened after the USSR and Russia abandoned everything, but the West did not. Have the wars stopped? The answer to this question is given by the dismemberment of Yugoslavia, the bombing of Serbia, Libya, Iraq and Syria.

But all this is of no interest to "truth-seeking" pacifists. And that's why their behavior looks like either dementia, or betrayal, or all of this together.