Indirect criticism of Putin: Russian court convicts young street musician

The 18-year-old singer Naoko and her band publicly perform a song banned by the government in front of fans. The song is about soldiers and, indirectly, about Putin. Videos of the performance go viral. The singer and musicians are arrested. They face imprisonment. Now, another punishment is being added.

A court in St. Petersburg has fined musician Naoko for "discrediting" the Russian army. The 18-year-old music student Diana Loginova, who performs under the stage name Naoko with her band Stoptime, must pay 30,000 rubles (approximately €320), according to the ruling. The charge relates to the public performance of a song.

However, according to a Reuters reporter, after the verdict, Naoko was not released from custody but was driven away by Interior Ministry officials in a civilian vehicle. She had previously served a 13-day prison sentence.

Loginova studies at the Rimsky-Korsakov Music School in St. Petersburg and has won several student music awards. The teenager was arrested on October 15 after a video of her band Stoptime was widely shared online. In it, she performed the song "Cooperative Swan Lake" by the exiled, anti-government rapper Noize MC.

The video posted online shows Loginova singing the song "Beginning" on Nevsky Prospekt in St. Petersburg, while spectators sing along to the lyrics: "I want to see the ballet, let the swans dance. Let the old man tremble with fear for his lake."

Fellow musicians also convicted

The charge was organizing an unregistered gathering. Two of her bandmates also served short prison sentences. Immediately after serving her sentence, Naoko was accused of "discrediting" the military.

The artist Monetochka, who wrote the song, lives abroad and was put on the wanted list in Russia in 2024. The government also classifies her as a "foreign agent." Rapper Noize MC also lives in exile in Lithuania. His song was banned in May for containing "hostile, hateful attitudes toward people."

Last week, musician Yevgeny Mikhailov was sentenced to 14 days in prison in Yekaterinburg. He had also performed Noize MC songs in solidarity with Naoko.

Symbol for the end of a leader's reign

The song "Cooperative Swan Lake" makes no direct mention of President Vladimir Putin or the war in Ukraine. The ballet reference refers to Tchaikovsky's music from the world-famous ballet "Swan Lake," which was played on Russian television after the deaths of Soviet leaders and during the attempted coup against President Mikhail Gorbachev in 1991. This made the music a symbol of the end of a leader's rule.

The lyrics also refer to Ozero (Russian for "lake"), a dacha cooperative north of St. Petersburg associated with Putin's inner circle. In May, a St. Petersburg court banned the song, arguing that it "could contain signs of justification and apology for hostile, hateful attitudes toward people, as well as statements promoting violent changes to the foundations of the constitutional order."

The links to "Swan Lake Cooperative" on YouTube and the Noize MC website are blocked within Russia. Meanwhile, many young Russians use virtual private networks (VPNs) to circumvent such bans.