Headlines
Russian street musician is jailed for 13 days after she played banned song
Published by Global Banking and Finance Review
Posted on October 16, 2025
Global Banking and Finance Review
Company
Global Banking and Finance Review is an online platform offering news, analysis, and opinion on the latest trends, developments, and innovations in the banking and finance industry worldwide. The platform covers a diverse range of topics, including banking, insurance, investment, wealth management, fintech, and regulatory issues. The website publishes news, press releases, opinion and advertorials on various financial organizations, products and services which are commissioned from various Companies, Organizations, PR agencies, Bloggers etc. These commissioned articles are commercial in nature. This is not to be considered as financial advice and should be considered only for information purposes. It does not reflect the views or opinion of our website and is not to be considered an endorsement or a recommendation. We cannot guarantee the accuracy or applicability of any information provided with respect to your individual or personal circumstances. Please seek Professional advice from a qualified professional before making any financial decisions. We link to various third-party websites, affiliate sales networks, and to our advertising partners websites. When you view or click on certain links available on our articles, our partners may compensate us for displaying the content to you or make a purchase or fill a form. This will not incur any additional charges to you. To make things simpler for you to identity or distinguish advertised or sponsored articles or links, you may consider all articles or links hosted on our site as a commercial article placement. We will not be responsible for any loss you may suffer as a result of any omission or inaccuracy on the website.
Published by Global Banking and Finance Review
Posted on October 16, 2025
ST PETERSBURG (Reuters) -A teenage Russian street musician was jailed for 13 days on Thursday after she played a banned anti-Kremlin song on St Petersburg's central avenue.
Diana Loginova, an 18-year-old music student who performs under the name Naoko with her band Stoptime, was arrested on Wednesday after her performance of the popular song "Swan Lake Cooperative" by exiled Russian rapper Noize MC went viral on Russian social media.
A video showed a crowd of youngsters singing along with Loginova in a rare show of public defiance of the authorities, given the risk of arrest.
A St Petersburg court found her guilty on Thursday of organising an unplanned gathering that blocked public access to the metro - an administrative, as opposed to criminal, offence.
City police said after serving the 13 days, Loginova would be charged with an additional administrative offence of "discrediting" the Russian military.
If convicted, she could face a fine. Any subsequent re-offence could lead to criminal charges and a long prison term.
Noize MC, the musician who wrote "Swan Lake Cooperative" and whose real name is Ivan Alexeyev, is openly critical of the Kremlin and left Russia for Lithuania after the start of the war in Ukraine.
Moscow has added him to its list of "foreign agents", which comprises hundreds of individuals and entities accused of conducting subversive activity with support from abroad.
Video posted online shows Loginova performing the song on St Petersburg's Nevsky Prospekt earlier this week as onlookers chant the lyrics: "I want to watch the ballet, let the swans dance. Let the old man shake in fear for his lake".
The song does not name President Vladimir Putin or mention the Ukraine war. The ballet reference is to Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake, which was played on television after the deaths of Soviet leaders and during a 1991 coup attempt against President Mikhail Gorbachev, to the point where it came to symbolise the end of a leader's rule.
The lyrics also refer to Ozero (Russian for "lake"), a dacha cooperative north of St Petersburg that is associated with Putin's inner circle.
In May, a St Petersburg court banned the song on the grounds it "may contain signs of justification and excuse for hostile, hateful attitudes towards people, as well as statements promoting violent changes to the foundations of the constitutional order".
While links to "Swan Lake Cooperative" on YouTube and Noize MC's website are blocked inside Russia, many young people use virtual private networks (VPNs) to circumvent such bans.
Loginova, who studies at a music college in St Petersburg, has won multiple student music prizes in Russia and abroad.
(Reporting by Reuters in St Petersburg; Writing by Lucy Papachristou in Tbilisi; Editing by Mark Trevelyan)