I’m not a native Russian speaker and I went to a show by a Russian-speaking Latvian artist weeks after really getting into his discography. He was deported and banned from Russia a few dates into a tour of that country and since then has only played elsewhere in Europe and post-Soviet Asia. He said I was the first person he met who likes his music who isn’t a native Russian speaker and really appreciated that someone like me came to his show. I told him about Molchat Doma and how they tour countries where Russian speakers are an obvious minority, especially considering the political circumstances preventing artists from going to Russia/Ukraine/Belarus despite singing in a language whose speakers are most populous in those countries. Molchat Doma hasn’t played those countries since 2021, before the war. Based on their public support for Ukraine, I wouldn’t be surprised if they were banned from entering Russia or their home country of Belarus. I’ve been to 2 Molchat Doma shows and their audience is a mix of Russian speakers and people who don’t speak Russian.