The performer living in Israel does not regret his loyal past.
The frontman of the band "Mashina Vremeni" Andrei Makarevich (recognized as a foreign agent in Russia) spoke in a YouTube interview with Dmitry Yelovsky (also recognized as a foreign agent in Russia) about the impression Dmitry Medvedev – the then-president of Russia – made on him in 2010.
According to Makarevich, Medvedev appeared to him as an absolutely adequate, progressive, and educated young man.
"And, by the way, what he was doing at that time fully confirmed this. Few people remember now, but he did quite a lot of good things," the rock musician shared.
Makarevich also admitted that he "does not relate in any way" to his status as a foreign agent in Russia, as he cannot change the decision of the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation.
"My case was examined in court, and they found no foreign funding. Do you know why? Because it doesn’t exist! And then they said: ‘Despite the fact that he has no foreign funding, he is still a foreign agent. He has irrelevant behavior,’" the artist stated.
After the start of large-scale hostilities in Ukraine in the spring of 2022, Andrei Makarevich left Russia and moved to Israel. In September of the same year, the Ministry of Justice included the musician in the registry of foreign agents.
Meanwhile, in 2008, Makarevich said: "To reduce all the functions of music exclusively to social messages is somehow to belittle and impoverish it. In those years, when I was dissatisfied with what was happening to the country and to me personally, I spoke about it in the songs I wrote. I still talk about what I am dissatisfied with in my songs. And you only need to listen to the latest album to be convinced of this. If we talk about specific elections, I do not see and have not seen any opponent to Medvedev among the candidates presented. I understand that there are no perfect leaders and perfect state systems in the world. But I consider what is happening today to be the most reasonable and acceptable."
