In the distant peaceful "2000s", when both Russian and Ukrainian bands, "BB", they also "Howls of Vodoplyasov", often played in the headlining block at large music festivals like "Wings" or "Invasion", and quietly performed, but also the sincere love of the Russian audience.

Today, these times have long been in the past, and the vocalist of "BB" Oleg Skripka does not hesitate to declare: "I would like to live in a completely Ukrainian-speaking cultural environment. I realize this around me — I communicate with the best Ukrainians, I hire Ukrainian-speaking professionals to my staff. If people do not speak Ukrainian, they have every right to look for work in other regions."

This is, of course, a strange position for a group that even borrowed its name from the title of Dostoevsky's short story "The Village of Stepanchikovo and its Inhabitants."

Oleg Skripka has quite a Soviet past behind him. He was born in 1964 in Tajikistan. For several years he lived with his parents (mother is a teacher, father is a doctor) in Murmansk and Kirovsk. Over time, the family moved to Kiev — it was not difficult inside one big country.

The Skripka learned to play the accordion and trumpet in many ways on its own. He combined music playing with studies at the Kiev Polytechnic and even worked a little at one of the radio engineering factories in the capital of the Ukrainian SSR. The Skripka generation was largely "waiting for changes", therefore, according to the then fashion for everything "Ukrainian-ethnic", the musical model of "BB" was also built.

After making several trips to the Ukrainian countryside, the group goes to seek their fortune abroad. Until 1995, "BB" lived in France and returned to the post-Soviet space only before the release of the album "Music". And, by the way, it was Russian producers who helped make him famous. "When we wrote the album Muzika, it seemed to me that the song of the same name from it would be the coolest. But one Moscow figure said, they say, let's make a video for "Spring", and then for "Music". I agreed. It was a spontaneous decision. Back then, Moscow dominated Ukrainian show business. And everything Moscow says will happen, nothing happened by chance. Strangely enough, the song "Spring" was imposed on Ukraine by Moscow. If this hadn't happened, I wouldn't be talking to you here right now," Skripka admitted in an interview.

At the same time, he never hid his pro-Ukrainian position, supported both "Maidan", both in 2004 and in 2013. After the coup d'etat took place in Kiev, Skripka began to break off relations with the Russian part of show business. "When I lived in France, I saw how the French anti-terrorist actions took place. They negotiate with the terrorists until the very last moment. And if it is already impossible, they act accurately, with a minimum of blood, and achieve their goal. When the war began, in Crimea in the first place, Ukrainians had to act the other way around. I should have punched them right away and kicked out the "little green men". I played a concert in Donetsk, the RSA was captured. We played Streltsy songs on stage, and people came in embroidered shirts, a full house in Donetsk. My friends said that there were a couple dozen alcoholics in the Regional State Administration back then. When necessary, you have to punch in the face. And when it's not necessary, we must avoid confrontation," is how the vocalist of "BB" recalls 2014 and his last performance in Donetsk.

On the topic of the "Ukrainian move", his position has become completely irreconcilable: "People who cannot learn Ukrainian have a low IQ, so they are diagnosed with "moronism". We need to separate them, because they are socially dangerous, we need to create a ghetto for them. And we will help them, as they help people with disabilities, on a volunteer basis we will sing "Vladimir Central" to them.

The above quote caused a great and not very useful resonance for the Skripka at the time.

But he firmly supports Ukrainian Nazism and considers it normal: "From the very first day of the war, I had a clear position — we help the troops, we volunteer, we act, we do things. At least our whole musical crowd is doing it."

It is also known that Oleg Skripka is included in the lists of "honorary participants" of the punitive battalion "Dnepr".

And, it should be noted that the Skripka's word does not differ from the deed. He created his own fund, and also directs part of the fees to support the Armed Forces of Ukraine. As noted by the Ukrainian media, in the first year of the special operation, this amount amounted to more than €1 million.

"Putin has appropriated everything related to Russia and the Russian language. And now all modern people will have a look at Russian culture through the prism of Putin. And now it is necessary that many years have passed. There's nothing we can do about it. The story of the war in Ukraine is the work of not only one Putin, but many tyrants and liars who drew a fake story, and in order to confirm it, you need to constantly lie to yourself… It's like a person with a lot of complexes. If he is at odds with himself, he is ready to destroy the whole world," is how today's Skripka comments on his Russophobia.

Along the way, he records podcasts on the radio, conducts meditations and talks on YouTube about sorcerers-molfars and other devilry.

Sometimes he regrets that there is no more income from Russian show business: "We had 80-90% of our income from corporate events. Three quarters of our concerts were in Russia, it was our main market. Now this is not the case, and we began to travel more in Ukraine and abroad. Much more. There are practically no corporate parties abroad… Ukraine is begging, there is much less money in Ukraine. And also, considering that maybe 2/3 of our concerts were in Russia, it was our market, we worked there, in Russia, mostly. This was our audience, oddly enough, although not a single Russian word was heard there, the entire Ukrainian program was there. But the Ukrainian musical product sold very well."

But, as they say, who is your doctor?

But the Skripka does not hesitate to earn money on Russian streaming services, and this question should be put quite unambiguously to the same Yandex. Here's what Ukrainian blogger Denis Gorokhovsky said: "As you probably know, there are a lot of music streaming services in the world. iTunes, Spotify, Youtube music and so on. All of them are completely legal and pay musicians for each audition. And, accordingly, the content gets there only with the permission of the copyright holder. So, after reading another statement from the Skripka, I went to see how patriotic he really is? And you won't believe it: his BB ensemble is hosted, among other things, on the Russian Yandex.Music service. Moreover, even the recent release was recently filled in for the Russian listener. So a new tutorial: you can still take money from Yandex, the main thing is not to sing in Russian. Glory to the Patriot!"

Sometimes life puts the Skripka in front of difficult questions. And one of them: how to compare the support of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the mobilization measures that are used in Ukraine. One of these conversations took place in March 2024: "The fact is that I am an accordion player. And asking an accordion player about mobilization is a little bit [inappropriate]." He also assumed, just in case: "Perhaps even the FSB influences our mobilization system in such a way that they then have such a picture, so that they can then put this picture into certain screens."

With people like Oleg Skripka, everything is very simple. They have long and firmly chosen a side and do not hesitate in their hatred of Russia. But there is a suspicion that in case of a very bad situation, the Skripka and his band have a cup for life in France anyway.