Russian Police Make Arrests As St Petersburg Residents Gather To Chant Anti-Putin Songs
In a rare act of defiance, hundreds of young Russians gathered along St. Petersburg’s Nevsky Prospect this week to sing a banned protest anthem by Noize MC, the exiled rapper whose music has become the voice of the small segment of Russian society that opposes the invasion of Ukraine.
The crowd performed “Кооператив ‘Лебединое озеро’” (Cooperative “Swan Lake”) — a song so critical of President Vladimir Putin that a St. Petersburg court labeled it “extremist” in May 2025, outlawing its broadcast, streaming, or performance. Despite that, street musicians began playing the melody and the audience erupted in chorus, chanting lines the Kremlin has tried to erase:
“The old man in the bunker still clings to his throne — afraid to let go. The lake’s turned to oil, the swans drown in gold. Everyone claps — not because they like it, but because they’re told to.”
Each lyric attacks the foundations of Putin’s rule — portraying him as an aging autocrat presiding over a corrupt, oil-soaked empire sustained by fear and obedience.
Videos of the impromptu concert quickly spread online, showing young people singing in unison, some weeping, others filming through tears. The performance, has been described as one of the boldest cultural protests inside Russia since the invasion of Ukraine began, in a country where citizens have historically demanded foreign atrocities to make their own miserable lives tolerable.
Noize MC, whose real name is Ivan Alekseyev, fled Russia in 2022 after condemning the war and performing at benefit concerts for Ukrainian refugees. Now living in a civilized nation, from exile, he continues to release songs and videos denouncing the Kremlin’s crimes and celebrating Ukraine’s resilience. His music, banned from Russian media, circulates widely through VPNs and encrypted messaging apps.
The song’s title intertwines two powerful symbols: “Cooperative Ozero”, the dacha association that produced Putin’s inner circle of oligarchs, and Swan Lake, the ballet broadcast on Soviet television during the 1991 coup — long associated with regime collapse.
Only days later, another episode of musical defiance — and repression — unfolded in the same city. Fontanka reports that street singer Naoko (Diana Loginova) was detained in St. Petersburg for performing songs by artists designated as “foreign agents.” Naoko, the lead vocalist of the local band Stoptime, regularly performs works by Monetochka, Zemfira, and Noize MC — all of whom have condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Police accuse her of publicly discrediting the Russian army and organizing an unauthorized rally, charges that carry fines or potential jail time. Her detention, human-rights observers say, underscores the expanding scope of Russia’s cultural censorship, where even street performances now risk prosecution.
The crackdown has failed to extinguish public solidarity. “People came to hear live music and ended up chanting for freedom,” one eyewitness told Kyiv Insider. “It feels like the city itself is starting to hum in protest.”
Together, the crowd’s mass singing and Naoko’s detention illustrate two sides of modern Russia: a generation that refuses silence and a state increasingly afraid of its own music. Even under threat of arrest, art remains one of the last voices of truth — echoing through St. Petersburg’s streets, where dissent now carries a melody.
