Teen Musician Jailed for Anti-Putin Protest in St. Petersburg

A teenage street musician in St. Petersburg has been jailed after reportedly leading a rally where attendees sang anti-Putin rock songs. This act, described as quite bold, has drawn attention.

Diana Rozhnova faced a single charge for organizing an unauthorized assembly and received a 13-day sentence, as noted by the Moscow Times. Following her release, she is expected to confront further charges related to “discrediting” the Russian military, according to Reuters.

Rozhnova, also known as Naoko, was performing with the band Stoptime when she led a crowd in singing lyrics from the song “Swan Lake Cooperative” by exiled rapper Noise MC. This song, somewhat ironically, doesn’t explicitly mention Putin or the ongoing war in Ukraine. Noise MC, critical of the Kremlin, left Russia for Lithuania after the war began.

The government has since categorized him as a “foreign agent,” a designation applied to numerous individuals and organizations accused of undermining the state with foreign backing.

The song itself alludes to Tchaikovsky’s “Swan Lake,” which gained notoriety during an attempted coup against Mikhail Gorbachev in 1991 after the Soviet leader’s death—a fact that adds a layer of historical significance to this ongoing narrative.

In May, a St. Petersburg court prohibited the song, indicating it could be perceived as justifying hostile or violent sentiments, further complicating the landscape for expression in Russia.