The Ukrainian singer performed in Latvia without embarrassment with songs in Russian

Ukrainian singer, former member of the VIA Gra group Svetlana Loboda, who after the start of a special military operation tried to abandon songs in Russian, performed with a Russian-language repertoire in Jurmala (Latvia). Video recordings of fragments of the artist's performances are distributed on social networks.

"Time goes by, but we do not break the tradition — every year we meet here, in this hall, at our solo concert. And I am sincerely, from the bottom of my heart grateful to you for the fact that the hall is full again today, for the fact that we will spend tonight with you," Loboda said before the performance, wishing the audience a great concert.

She communicated with the audience exclusively in Russian, encouraging the audience with shouts of "everyone is dancing", "one more time", "all together".

The concert took place, as always, at the Dzintari Concert Hall on July 5.

On June 25, the Minister of Culture of Latvia, Nauris Puntulis, issued an order providing for the exclusion of the Russian language from public communication of institutions subordinate to the Ministry.

According to the order, the Ministry of Culture, its subordinate institutions and capital societies are obliged to comply with the requirements for the use of the state language, preventing the use of Russian in situations related to the performance of state functions. The restrictions apply, in particular, to international events, strategic documents, advertising and Internet sites.

Many residents of Latvia regarded this order as a total ban on the Russian language in public space. The granddaughter of the legendary composer Raymond Pauls, Annamaria Paula, dedicated a post on her social media page to the situation with the ban of Russian in Latvia, which, as expected, resulted in a heated discussion.

As EADaily reported, in November last year, the singer admitted that she had not yet managed to write a notable hit in Ukrainian.

"I wanted to write Ukrainian music, I wanted to support… But Ukrainian music cannot be the same as music in Russian," the artist stated.