Rocker Dmitry Spirin put his Russian passport up for auction to support Ukraine

Dmitry Spirin, the former frontman of the well-known Russian punk band “Targany!” who recently obtained Argentine citizenship, found a creative way to symbolically say goodbye to his Russian passport. 

Since he cannot officially renounce his Russian citizenship at this time due to criminal prosecution in his home country and debts owed to the Russian government, the musician decided to auction off the document at a charity auction.

Following advice from his followers, Spirin will sell his passport page by page. A new lot (a single page) will be listed every three days on his Telegram, Instagram, Facebook, and Threads accounts. Bids will be accepted in U.S. dollars, though winners will be able to pay for their purchase in any currency. At the buyer’s request, the musician is willing to sign the page or add a personalized message, after which the lot will be mailed to the new owner.

The artist will donate all proceeds from this auction to the “Davayte” fund (organized by independent Russian media), which provides aid to Ukrainian civilians affected by the war.

Dmitry Spirin has consistently opposed Putin’s policies and condemned Russia’s aggression against Ukraine as early as 2014—at which time his band released a Ukrainian version of their song “Freedom Street.” After the full-scale invasion began, the artist left Russia, and in 2024, the Russian Ministry of Justice officially declared him a “foreign agent.”

Source: Dmitry Spirin’s Instagram.

Earlier, the Leninsky District Court of St. Petersburg sentenced Alexander Orlov, guitarist for the street band “StopTime,” to 13 days of administrative detention. He was accused of “organizing a mass gathering of citizens” in connection with a concert featuring songs by musicians whom the Russian authorities had declared “foreign agents,” including Noiz and Monetochka. All three band members—Naoko (Diana Loginova), Alexander Orlov, and drummer Vladislav Leontyev—were detained. The international human rights organization Amnesty International has called for the immediate release of the musicians from the band “StopTime.”