Nastia pulls out of Awakenings: "I can not play with Russians who are tolerant to war in Ukraine"

Nastia has posted online saying that she will not be performing at her upcoming set at Awakenings.

The DJ has cancelled her show at Awakenings, and described that her reasoning is because she "can not play in the same line-up with Russians who are tolerant to war in Ukraine."

She has not named the Russians she is referring to.

Nastia has previously been publicly critical of Russian DJ Nina Kraviz, who is appearing at Awakenings. Kraviz released a statement responding to backlash over her silence about the Russian invasion of Ukraine last month.

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Awakenings Festival is a three-day techno camping festival due to take place in the Netherlands from July 29.to July 31.

The Ukrainian DJ was billed to play on Sunday at Area X of the festival. Her set was billed for 4.30PM - 6.30PM.

Writing on Instagram, Nastia said, in part: "As Ukrainian dj I can not play in the same lineup with Russians who are tolerant to war in Ukraine.

"I am Ukrainian citizen with clear position. My position is much stronger and important than my business and career, so I will go to the end until the war is over. Representing Russia in silence or ignorance means representing ideas and image of it. I truly believe that proud Ukrainian artist can not perform with Russians who didn’t take a side at the same events."

Read this next: Raves not war: How Shum is building a new future for war-torn Eastern Ukraine

The festival has an extensive list of huge names in techno billed to play, including Amelie Lens, Jeff Mills, Hector Oaks, Floorplan and more.

Nastia has also stated that she has relaunched her fund for Ukraine and the amount she is supposed to earn from her Awakenings fees will be donated there.

In response to Nastia's decision: "Unfortunately Nastia has decided to cancel her set at Awakenings Summer Festival. We regret this but we respect her decision. Nastia has stated she doesn't want to perform at our festival anymore because we didn't remove certain Russian artists from the lineup. We would like to explain that decision. First of all, Vladimir Dubyshkin has spoken out explicitly against the war and we have proof of that. Second, we see that Nina does not explicitly speak out against the Russian war against Ukraine, however, we’ve had several conversations with Nina personally and she has been clear on her position to us. Based on these confidential conversations we decided not to remove her from the line up and up to this point we still stand behind this decision. "

"We as Awakenings spoke out clearly against the war immediately after Russia's invasion of Ukraine early this year, changed the name of our former area Z to area U and made a large donation to Giro 555 in aid of the victims of the war in Ukraine after our Awakenings Easter events. Our position on this matter remains the same and we will again donate to Giro 555 after our Awakenings Summer Festival. This regardless of Nastia's decision. We stand by Ukraine.”

Read this next: A list of ways you can support Ukraine

Former Mixmag cover star Nastia has been fighting to raise awareness about what is going on in her home country of Ukraine since the start of the war in February.

She is hosting a fundraising night in New York on July 1 to raise funds for the ongoing relief programmes in Ukraine.

Find Nastia's full statement here. you can donate to her Ukrainian fundraiser here.

Aneesa Ahmed is Mixmag's Digital Intern, follow her on Twitter