Three young musicians were arrested today for performing banned dissident songs on a main street in St Petersburg, attracting crowds of passers-by, while videos of the event have gone viral on social media platforms.

St. Petersburg judicial authorities announced that Stoptime singer Diana “Naoko” Loginova was sentenced to 13 days in jail for “disturbing public order.” According to Russian reports, the 18-year-old was found guilty of organizing a public gathering that caused problems with public access to a metro station. He is also accused of “defaming the military”, a charge that carries severe penalties and has been brought several times in the past three years to crack down on dissidents.

Two other members of the band, Vladislav Leontiev and Alexander Orlov, were also sentenced to 13 and 12 days in prison respectively.

As seen on video, dozens of people sang and danced to the sounds of a group of street musicians who performed hits by Monetotchka, Noize MC and Pornofilmy, known for their opposition to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Rapper Noize MC, whose real name is Ivan Alekseev, has criticized the Kremlin and left Russia after the start of the war in Ukraine to settle in Lithuania. The song he wrote called “Swan Lake Cooperative” has been banned in Russia, on the grounds that the lyrics incite hatred and violent behavior directed against the constitutional order. It has a reference to Tchaikovsky’s “Swan Lake” which was played on television after the deaths of Soviet leaders and during the coup attempt against Gorbachev in August 1991, thus symbolizing in some way the end of a leader.

Although links to ‘Swan Lake Cooperative’ on YouTube and Noize MC’s website are blocked in Russia, many young people use VPNs to bypass the ban.