“It seems to me that already six months before the full-scale invasion, Mr. Oleg was in a state of altered consciousness under the influence of certain substances,” said Lisitsa. “Therefore, his actions at that time, in my opinion, were inadequate, and it is difficult to evaluate them. When a person acts inappropriately, this is a question for specialists who determine the degree of such inadequacy.”
Lisitsa noted that he is not currently communicating with the artist.
“At one time I worked with Oleg, there were very productive periods, there were unproductive and even counterproductive periods – and this, in my opinion, was connected precisely with the substances I’m talking about. I saw this and can make assumptions about the reasons for his behavior,” the producer added.
He also said that on February 25, 2025, he spoke with Vinnik by phone.
“I asked how he was doing, where he was, if he needed help. He shouted into the phone that he couldn’t say where he was, because the Chechens were allegedly looking for him and now they would kill him. This story about the Chechens who supposedly want to exchange him for the Poltava or Kherson regions looked very absurd, but I heard it,” Lisitsa emphasized.
Context
Vinnik secretly left Ukraine at the end of February 2022 and went to Germany. The artist did not appear in public for some time, and then began performing abroad in restaurants, including performing his old songs in Russian.
In December 2025, Vinnik gave an interview to a journalist from RBC-Ukraine Life, in which he began promoting Kremlin narratives.
