A teenage street musician was reportedly jailed and charged after leading a public gathering in which she encouraged a crowd to sing an anti-Putin rock song, in what local reports described as an uncommon act of defiance.
Diana Loginova is facing one administrative charge for orchestrating an unsanctioned public assembly and has received a 13-day jail sentence, according to The Moscow Times.
Upon completion of her current sentence, Loginova is expected to face another administrative charge for “discrediting” the Russian military, as reported by Reuters.
Loginova, known by her stage name Naoko and affiliated with the band Stoptime, was taken into custody on Tuesday. Her arrest followed earlier footage showing her guiding a crowd in singing lyrics from “Swan Lake Cooperative,” a popular track by the exiled rapper Noize MC.
Noize MC, the artist behind “Swan Lake Cooperative,” has been an outspoken critic of the Kremlin and relocated from Russia to Lithuania following the commencement of the .
Moscow, in turn, has designated him a “foreign agent,” placing him on a list that encompasses hundreds of individuals and organizations accused of carrying out with foreign backing, Reuters stated.
The song itself makes no direct mention of Russian President Vladimir Putin or the conflict in Ukraine. Instead, it alludes to Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake, a piece frequently broadcast on television following the passing of Soviet leaders and during the 1991 coup attempt targeting President Mikhail Gorbachev.
Last May, a court in St. Petersburg prohibited the song, citing that it “may contain indications of justifying and excusing hostile, hateful sentiments toward individuals, alongside remarks advocating forceful alterations to the constitutional order’s bedrock.”