Soviet-era rock star Fedor Chistyakov announced emigration from the Russian Federation. The reason for this decision frontman of the group "Zero" was a ban on "Jehovah's Witnesses".

"You can regard this interview as my official statement on leaving the country. I just had no choice, "the musician told the correspondent of Novaya Gazeta.

The star is a member of the religious organization "Jehovah's Witnesses", which is now recognized in the Russian Federation as extremist.

"I was not going to emigrate. There are people who try to get a green card for years, or somehow get to America. And I have never had any thoughts of these, nor the possibilities. I firmly settled in place, I am already fifty, where to go? In addition, right now everything is developing very well, as a musician is on the rise: a good band, an established tour system, one after one albums. And so we flew with a tour in the US. And on the eve of the trial, the result of which was the ban of "Witnesses". For me it was a shock. The likelihood that I will not return from the American tour began to grow strongly. And on July 17, when they rejected the appeal, I made the final decision, "explained the musician.

Chistyakov belongs to the organization since the 1990s, when in his life there was a place both in prison and in a psychiatric hospital.

Also, the artist added that such prohibitions of religious movements makes "any creative activity meaningless".

Recall, since 2010, Fedor Chistyakov performs with his own band "F4Band" (or "Chistyakov Band"). For a long time, he did not sing songs from the repertoire of "Zero" because of a dispute with his worldview. However, in 2016, the 30th anniversary of the group is scheduled to release a collection of re-recorded hits "Zero" of the past years under the name "Zero +30".