Hundreds of people gathered in the centre of St Petersburg in a rare moment of protest against Russian president Vladimir Putin to sing anti-war songs.
A crowd of young people gathered to sing anti-war songs in Kazanskaya Square, including the proscribed song “Swan Lake Collective” by Russian rapper Noize MC, in footage that has now gone viral on social media.
The song, banned from distribution by the Primorsky District Court in May, features anti-Putin lyrics including “The old man still clings to his throne, afraid to let go” and “When the tsar dies, we’ll dance again — ‘Swan Lake’ on every screen.”
Crowds could be heard chanting the chorus: “I want to watch the ballet, let the swans dance. Let the old man shake in fear for his lake”.
Russia’s justice ministry labelled Noize MC, real name Ivan Alexeyev, a “foreign agent” in November 2022. He relocated to Lithuania after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Tchaikovsky’s ballet Swan Lake became a symbol for the fall of the Soviet Union after it was played repeatedly on state television during the upheaval of August 1991.
An 18-year-old singer, Diana Loginova, was taken to a police station, accused of performing songs by foreign agents, according to regional news outlet Fontanka. The teenager, who performs under the stage name Naoko, sang alongside the band Stoptime before they were interrupted by the police.
Local media said the complaints against them concerned the lack of necessary documents to perform. Pictures of Ms Loginova showed her detained at a police station following her performance at the protest.
The gathering is a rare moment of protest against Putin, as the right to freedom of assembly is heavily restricted by Russian authorities.
It comes as the UK issued fresh sanctions against Russian oil companies and the country’s “shadow fleet”. Two of Russia’s largest oil companies – Lukoil and Rosneft – will be hit by the restrictions in a move chancellor Rachel Reeves said was to make it clear that “Russian oil is off the market.”
Speaking at the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) annual meeting, she said the UK government was “significantly stepping up the pressure on Russia and Vladimir Putin’s war effort.”
Donald Trump has warned that Putin should settle the Ukraine war as it’s making Russia “look bad”, predicting the country’s economy “is going to collapse”.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, while not directly commenting on Trump’s remarks, said the Russian leader was open to ending the war and Moscow was grateful for the US president’s efforts.
“As for the Russian economy, it has a sufficient and considerable margin of safety to allow the country’s leadership and all of us to implement the plans that we set for ourselves,” Peskov told reporters.
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