Russian singer sentenced to 13 days in jail for performing songs by ‘foreign agents’ live in St. Petersburg

A Russian singer was detained while performing live on the streets of St. Petersburg for including tracks by artists who had been declared “foreign agents”, local media outlet Rotonda reported on Wednesday.

Diana Loginova, 18, who performs under the name of Naoko as lead singer of the group Stoptime, spent the night at a police station and was delivered to court handcuffed on Thursday afternoon, according to independent news outlet Mediazona.

Loginova was sentenced to 13 days in jail for organising a mass public gathering, local news outlet Bumaga has reported. She also faces a misdemeanour charge for “discrediting” the Russian army which has not been considered by the court yet.

Video footage emerged online earlier this week of Stoptime performing Swan Lake Cooperative, an anti-war song by Russian rapper Noize MC with lyrics mocking Russian propaganda narratives at the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which was banned in Russia in May.

Noize MC is the stage name of Ivan Alekseyev, who was labelled a “foreign agent” by the Russian government for his anti-war stance in November 2022. He now lives in Lithuania.

“Where have you been for eight years, you fucking monsters? I want to watch the ballet, watch the swans dance,” the crowd chanted in the video, referring to The Swan Lake ballet, which has become a symbol of political turmoil after it was broadcast on state TV during the 1991 Soviet coup attempt.

That footage came to the attention of Marina Akhmedova, the editor-in-chief of pro-Kremlin news agency Regnum, on Monday, who said the group was calling for “people to deliberately come out and protest” by announcing the performances in advance. Akhmedova found support in her views among the far right and pro-war bloggers.

The band subsequently stopped announcing its performances and asked people not to post footage for security reasons. Stoptime was previously detained by the police in late August for performing songs by “foreign agents”. On that occasion, they were charged with breaking the “noise curfew”, but were released the same evening, according to independent Telegram news channel ASTRA.