Crowds chant outlawed anti-Putin songs in rare St Petersburg protest
The crowd joined street musicians to sing “Cooperative Swan Lake,” which was outlawed in May 2025 when a St. Petersburg court labeled it “extremist.”
Viral videos on social media have appeared showing crowds in St. Petersburg singing anti-Putin songs, in a rare moment of protest in Russia.
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Street musicians were joined by hundreds of Russians in the centre of St. Petersburg on Tuesday to defy censorship by performing a banned song critical of the country’s president Vladimir Putin and the ongoing war in Ukraine.
In one viral social media video the crowd and street musicians can be seen dancing and singing the banned song “Cooperative Swan Lake.” The song, was originally written by exiled 40-year-old pro-Ukraine rapper Noize MC, a.k.a Ivan Alexeyev.
Young Russians sing a forbidden song in St Petersburg.
— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) October 14, 2025
Noize MC is a Russian pro-Ukrainian rapper forced to live in exile in Lithuania.
The crowd sings his song “Cooperative Swan Lake” in which he calls for Putin to be overthrown pic.twitter.com/qHrn1v1Gq6
The song's lyrics call for an end to Putin’s rule and strongly condemn public apathy toward the war.
The protest-style performance came amid tightening restrictions on artists opposing the Russian state and its invasion of Ukraine.
Protests in Russia are rare, and previous demonstrations have been brutally put down by the authorities.
It is currently unclear whether any arrests were made.