On the evening of 21 May 2026, security forces detained popular Belarusian singer Alexey Khlestov and took him to the Okrestina detention centre. The next day a court sentenced him to 14 days of administrative arrest for “petty hooliganism”. That morning a pre-recorded Instagram video went live: Khlestov described a series of “preventive talks” with GUBOPiK and other agencies — and asked people to share the recording if something happened to him.
How the detention happened
His wife Yelena Khlestova was the first to report it on Threads: her husband had been picked up without explanation and taken to Okrestina. On 22 May she shared the court result:
“Alexey was sentenced today under the article for petty hooliganism and got 14 days of arrest. He is on Okrestina. Where and in what circumstances he was so ‘hooliganish’, I don’t know. We will wait for his return.”
The formal grounds for the arrest remain unknown even to the family.
The Instagram video: “If this is posted, I’m not at home”
On the morning of 22 May a pre-recorded video appeared on Khlestov’s Instagram. He explained it was set to publish automatically in case he was detained:
“If this video is posted, I’m not at home and not at work. I have probably been taken for another preventive talk — the third one. The first time I was invited to GUBOPiK on Revolutsionnaya Street — a completely baffling conversation. On Friday I left and went back to driving a taxi. On Monday they invited me to GUVD. Today — to the Transport Police on Partizansky Avenue. I assume I will either be detained or there will be yet another talk. I have not done anything unlawful. Please share this video so that the appropriate authorities pay attention and protect me as a citizen.”
According to Euroradio, Khlestov clearly anticipated that the string of summonses could end in arrest.
Context: interview, blacklists and driving a taxi
A few weeks before the arrest Khlestov gave an interview to the YouTube channel OPUSHKA, describing how since 2021 he had effectively lost the ability to perform: concerts were cancelled, jobs as a teacher, producer or art director were refused — “for certain reasons”.
“A cancel culture happened. Let’s call it an execution. It felt like a death sentence for an artist.”
From March 2025 Khlestov drove a taxi in Minsk. He posted videos of himself singing behind the wheel and quickly built a new audience. According to a Zerkalo opinion piece by Nadziezhda Haretskaya of the Belarusian Council of Culture, this may have irritated the authorities: the artist “dared to break out of the ban” and popular support proved stronger than the informal prohibition.
In February 2023 the Belarusian Council of Culture reported that Khlestov was on a list of 87 artists and groups whose songs were banned in Belarus. The list was reportedly compiled by the KGB and distributed to state concert organisers.
Reaction and what is known now
An acquaintance of Khlestov told Charter97: “The authorities were annoyed that people showed Alyosha support and love — unprompted, unpaid, completely free.” The trigger, she said, was the OPUSHKA interview.
Media manager Kirill Voloshin offered the same explanation: the film came out on a small channel but quickly went viral.
As of publication, Khlestov is serving 14 days at Okrestina. His family has no details of the charge. The interview contained no direct criticism of the government — the artist simply described his life after being “cancelled”.