Alexander Nikolaevich Buinov (, born 24 March 1950) is a Russian singer, songwriter and keyboardist. He is best known for his tenure with

Vesyolye Rebyata Vesyolye Rebyata (, which means "''Merry Lads''") was a Soviet Union, Soviet VIA music, VIA (vocal instrumental ensemble) band formed in 1968, in Moscow. It became one of the most successful and best known VIA bands of all time. Its debut album ...

between 1973 and 1989, before starting his solo career. In the English-speaking world, he is known for his song "VDV – s neba privet" (VDV: Greetings from the Sky), which sings the praises of the Russian Airborne Troops, or VDV ("Vozdushno-desantnye voyska Rossii"; Russian script: Воздушно-десантные войска России, ВДВ; "Air-landing Forces"), a military branch of the

Armed Forces of the Russian Federation The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, commonly referred to as the Russian Armed Forces, are the military of Russia. They are organized into three service branches—the Ground Forces, Navy, and Aerospace Forces—two independent comba ...

. After the

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

, a number of parody videos have surfaced on the Internet with the apparent music of his ''VDV – s neba privet'', but subtitled with English lyrics mocking Russia. Buinov is a member of the Russian Political Party

United Russia The All-Russian Political Party United Russia (, ) is the Ruling party, ruling List of political parties in Russia, political party of Russia. As the largest party in the Russian Federation, it holds 325 (or 72.22%) of the 450 seats in the St ...

. Buinov was included on a 2019 list of blacklisted people banned from performing in Ukraine due to his links to the Putin government. In 2020, during the protests following the Belarusian presidential elections, Buinov recorded a song in support of

Alexander Lukashenko Alexander Grigoryevich Lukashenko (also transliterated as Alyaksandr Ryhoravich Lukashenka; born 30 August 1954) is a Belarusian politician who has been the first and only president of Belarus since the office's establishment in 1994, making hi ...

called "Artists for Peace – Don’t Give Away Your Loved One", though his representative subsequently stated that Buinov had not known that the lyrics of the song supported Lukashenko.

References

External links

Official site
Living people 1950 births Soviet male singers Russian male singer-songwriters Russian singer-songwriters Russian keyboardists Place of birth missing (living people) People's Artists of Russia Honored Artists of the Russian Federation Recipients of the Order of Honour (Russia) Singers from Moscow 20th-century Russian male singers 21st-century Russian male singers Winners of the Golden Gramophone Award {{Russia-keyboardist-stub