Blinken's Kyiv bar performance stirs controversy amid Ukraine crisis

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken took the stage at a Kyiv bar on Tuesday. The politician performed Neil Young's "Rockin' in the Free World." His performance drew a reaction from Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova.

As Blinken said before Tuesday’s performance at Barman Dictat, "Your soldiers, your citizens – particularly in the north-east, in Kharkiv – are suffering tremendously" who "But they need to know, you need to know, the United States is with you, so much of the world is with you and they’re fighting not just for a free Ukraine, but for the free world. And the free world is with you, too."

The head of American diplomacy played the electric guitar alongside the band 19.99, which performs, among others, covers of songs by Neil Young, the Canadian-American rock legend.

For Blinken, this event was not his first musical outing in his diplomatic career. He had previously performed during the launch of a global musical diplomacy initiative he had initiated. Prior to his current role, the diplomat was also part of his own band.

Some commentators and journalists criticised the performance by the head of American diplomacy as inappropriate, given the situation when Ukraine is facing a new Russian offensive on Kharkiv, and parts of Kyiv are without power.

"I can tell you the people who think this is cool are not those who are under relentless Russian bombing and shelling in eastern Ukraine, which are millions of people" - Financial Times correspondent Christopher Miller commented on the X platform.

American newspaper "The New York Times" described his performance as "strumming." "At the end of a somber day in the Ukrainian capital, Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken slipped into a seat at Barman Dictat, a crowded basement cocktail bar where a punk-jazz band was squealing away." - we read.

"A moment later, the band had started up, and Mr. Blinken — a longtime guitarist who has played in bands and even has a few tracks available on Spotify — began strumming the opening chords of Neil Young’s anthemic "Rockin’ in the Free World"with at least basic competence. With its 1989 vintage and a chorus that matches its title, the song evokes America’s triumphalism as Soviet communism began to collapse. It was clearly chosen to underscore one of the central messages of Mr. Blinken’s tenure and the Biden presidency: that Western democracies are in a vital struggle with reactionary authoritarian forces," comments "NYT".

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova also reacted to Blinken's "performance."

- The visit of US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to Kyiv and his performance in one of the capital's bars starkly reminds us that an American official came to mock the Ukrainian people, who are currently suffering partly due to the actions of the United States - she said in an interview with Sputnik radio.

"NYT" also notes that Blinken met with a wave of criticism for his performance. "Mr. Blinken’s onstage foray quickly drew barbs online from critics who, citing starvation in Gaza or horror in Kharkiv, said that this was no time for a cabinet official to be jamming in jeans" - it was added. "This is not a serious administration," we read in the statement quoted by the Republican National Committee portal.

"A policy address by Mr. Blinken earlier in the day about long-term support for Ukraine was something less than a hit on social media. By Tuesday afternoon, however, his politically tinged rocking was going viral." - concludes the American newspaper.