Broke Russian family deported from Indonesia for busking – VIDEO

A Russian couple and their young child have been deported from Indonesia, after a video of them busking illegally at a market on Lombok island went viral.

Coconuts reports that officials did not charge them with violating the conditions of their visa, with the Head of the Mataram Immigration Office saying he understood the family had been caught up in the Covid-19 pandemic that has paralysed the world.

“We’re giving them leeway because we’re in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic. If there’s no Covid-19 we would surely act more strictly.”

The couple, named in a report by Indonesia Expat as 29 year old Mikhail Bondarek and his 28 year old girlfriend Ekaterina, were deported from Bali’s Ngurah Rai International Airport with their 2 year old daughter on Sunday, on a flight reportedly arranged by the Russian Consulate.

They had been detained after a video of them playing music and singing at a market in Lombok went viral.

Burhanudin Surya/Facebook

It’s understood this is not the couple’s first brush with the law in Asia. They were previously detained by police in Malaysia after they were seen violently swinging their baby during a busking session in the capital Kuala Lumpur.

The couple have told Indonesian officials they are musicians travelling the world who now find themselves running out money.

SOURCE: Coconuts and Indonesia Expat