Yegor Letov

Igor "Yegor" Fyodorovich Letov (Russian: И́горь "Его́р" Фёдорович Ле́тов, IPA: [ˈiɡərʲ ˈfʲɵdərəvʲɪtɕ jɪˈɡor ˈlʲetəf]; (10 September 1964 – 19 February 2008) was a Russian singer-songwriter, best known as the founder and leader of the post-punk/psychedelic rock band Grazhdanskaya Oborona (Russian: Гражданская Оборона, lit. 'Civil Defense'), as well as the founder of the conceptual art avant-garde project Kommunizm and psychedelic rock outfit Egor i Opizdenevshie. Letov collaborated with singer-songwriter Yanka Dyagileva and other Siberian underground artists as a record engineer and producer.

Letov was one of the key figures of the Siberian punk scene. Posthumously, Letov has been called the "father" and "patriarch" of Russian punk rock, a "musical legend", and one of the most influential figures of the punk movement in Russia.

In addition to music, Letov was politically active, changing his political views from an anarchist rejection of the Soviet system in the late 1980s to national communism in the early 1990s. Together with Eduard Limonov and Alexander Dugin, he founded the controversial National Bolshevik Party (NBP), now banned in Russia. He later distanced himself from the NBP over personal disagreements and instead endorsed the Communist Party candidate Gennady Zyuganov in the 1996 presidential elections, but retained his party card. In the last years of his life, he completely distanced himself from political activity and stated his rejection of any forms and manifestations of totalitarianism.