Russian writer Viktor Shenderovich was doused with ketchup by a protester in Vilnius on Thursday.
A group of Ukrainian protesters on Thursday staged a picket outside the Vaidilos Theater in Vilnius, where the prominent Russian satirist and radio and TV host gave a performance entitled The Concert of a Foreign Agent.
The Russian writer was doused with ketchup when went out to speak to the protesters during a break in his show.
Shenderovich is widely known as a critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
According to Inga Kuliavienė, head of the Vaidilos Theater, the theatre knows Shenderovich as a consistent opponent of the Kremlin’s regime, so there were no doubts about hosting his show.
“Besides, we received no requests from the Lithuanian authorities to prevent him from giving his performance,” Kuliavienė said. “He is not on Lithuania’s blacklist and has not been banned from coming to our country.”
In December 2021, Shenderovich was put on Russia’s list of “foreign agents”. In January 2022, the writer announced that he had decided to leave Russia because of the criminal case involving Yevgeny Prigozhin.
Last November, Shenderovich paid Prigozhin, the founder of the Wagner mercenary group, 1.5 billion rubles in compensation for moral damage for calling him a “criminal” and a “murderer”.
However, Shenderovich has also publicly called Ukrainians Nazis and Russian soldiers fighting in Ukraine “innocent boys”.
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