Senator and former guitarist for the rock band Lyube Alexander Vaynberg has resigned from Russia’s upper-house Federation Council and announced that he will be deployed to the front line in eastern Ukraine.
“It’s been an honor and a privilege to work with you as one team for the past 15 years,” Vaynberg, a member of the ruling United Russia party, told fellow lawmakers after a vote on Wednesday formally approving his resignation.
“I’ll do my best to serve our homeland further. As we know, victory will be ours,” the 64-year-old senator added.
Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matviyenko said Vaynberg resigned in order to focus on “working at the front line,” Kommersant reported. She did not say in what capacity he was expected to serve.
Vaynberg’s colleagues from his native Nizhny Novgorod region said he has been involved in gathering and shipping supplies to Russian soldiers since the start of the full-scale invasion in February 2022.
A former guitarist for the 1990s-era patriotic rock band Lyube, Vaynberg entered into politics in the early 2000s and was selected to serve as senator from the Nizhny Novgorod region in 2011 following a vote in the regional assembly. He was re-appointed to the Federation Council three times, with his latest term set to end in September 2026.
Russian media first reported on Tuesday evening that Vaynberg planned to resign. In an apparent attempt to dispel rumors that the senator may have found himself in the crosshairs of law enforcement, his fellow lawmakers said he faces “no complaints” from the authorities.
Since 2022, a number of politicians and government officials have volunteered to serve in the military after facing criminal prosecution. Senators in Russia enjoy immunity from arrest, detainment and searches.
Vaynberg wrote and performed a patriotic song with pro-war singer Shaman in November.
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