“I don’t think politics should be confused with culture, but in the situation that has emerged in Ukraine, we cannot act otherwise,” said tupáková.

Several European countries, such as Estonia, canceled the withdrawal of Russian military ensembles due to Russia’s annexation of Crimea several years ago. In the past, domestic concerts of the Alexandrovs were accompanied by protests by anti-Russian activists. For example, the Kaputin group! already in 2018 in Prague, he spoke to concertgoers, saying that Alexandrov is not entertainment, but propaganda.

The Russian army ensemble Alexandrovci held its first public performance on October 12, 1928 at the Red Army Central Building in Moscow. At that time, the ensemble was called the Red Army Song and consisted of 12 men – eight singers, two dancers, an accordionist and a reciter.

The artistic body was founded by the composer, conductor, choirmaster and educator Alexandr Alexandrov, among others the writer of the Soviet and Russian national anthems, which led to his death in 1946. Since then, the ensemble has been bearing its name – Academic Ensemble of Russian Army AV Alexandrova.

In December 2016, the ensemble suffered a fatal blow when a plane with 64 singers crashed into the Black Sea while flying into a Russian military base in Latakia, Syria. No one survived the disaster. After the accident, the ensemble tried to recover, more than 2,000 applicants applied for vacancies in January 2017. Currently, the Alexandrovs have more than 300 members, the ensemble consists of a male choir, an orchestra, a ballet and a group of soloists and conductors. Karel Gott, Lucie Bílá, Petr Kolář, Petra Janů, Aleš Brichta, Bára Basiková and violinist Pavel Porcl performed with the Alexandrov family as guests.