Hundreds of young people gathered in St Petersburg to sing an outlawed song calling for Vladimir Putin to be overthrown.
In a rare moment of public dissent, the crowd joined street musicians in a central square on Tuesday night to shout anti-war lyrics that have been called “extremist” under new Russian censorship laws.
“Where have you been for eight years, you f—— monsters? I want to watch ballet, let the swans dance,” they chanted in Russian in the busy thoroughfare. “Let your grandpa tremble with excitement for Swan Lake.”
Mr Alekseev released Co-operative Swan Lake in 2022 to call for an end to Putin’s rule and condemn the apathy in Russian society towards the war in Ukraine and the annexation of Crimea in 2014.
Anyone caught in the footage will likely be charged with some sort of “crime” (*~badmouthing the kremlin gremlin*) and end up in jail where they will be asked to redeem themselves by signing a contract as cannon fodder in the “special military operation”.
Russia has started to draft soldiers from the urban “sancturies” Moscow and St. Piter where the “true Russians” (*ethnic caucasians, russo-orthodox faith, obedient pro-Putin loyalists*) live that were previously mostly exempt from military service in Ukraine.
So now that it is upon them to die gruesomely for the kremlin gremlin, the previously loyal kremlin gremlin fanbase has become unhappy…
That will show Putin! Now, on the chorus sing a bit more off tune to really drive the knife in the back! /s
Sounds at least like a step in the right direction.
Not every Russian loves Putin.
Sadly, this is not enough, but is it a beginning ?
this is huge.
And?
That s way too small to have an effect but it s small move in the right decision i guess. They are only complaining because St petersburg start to receive draft notice.
They’re waking up!
The moment there is a possibility of conscripts ending up in shallow graves (if they are likely) in Ukraine, they start to think abojt overthrowing Putin. Took them fucking long enough, slept on their ears until there was a chance their (Russian) asses were on the line.
Do you hear the people sing? Singing the songs of angry men, it is the music of the people who will not be slaves again…
It’s a good sign that there are people who are not happy the way Russia is governed by the dictator and that they dare to show it at least a bit. But most probably there won’t be much of a revolution. Putin will have shot protesters down before they can even ask him to step down, knowing it would not just be his political end, but also the end of his life.
Putin’s terror reign will most likely be ended by his inner circle when they see enough weakness to try and take over power. Let’s hope this circulates telegram so one of these oligarchs gets brave with his private army, knowing that at least parts of Russian society might be willing to follow his version of suppression. If winter is cold and Ukraine makes it even colder and darker, there’s a good chance Putin might not have to plan another failing summer offensive.
I love that lyric: “Let your grandpa tremble in excitement for swan lake.”
When the Soviet Union fell, the state broadcaster played swan lake so I’m assuming this is a reference to the future playing of swan lake after Putin gets Ghaddafi’d
For people not knowing Russian history – Swan Lake (ballet dance) was what was shown on state TV *during the fall of USSR*
So it begins…
There will be hundreds of people falling from their windows in an unexplainable event
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Hundreds of young people gathered in St Petersburg to sing an outlawed song calling for Vladimir Putin to be overthrown.
In a rare moment of public dissent, the crowd joined street musicians in a central square on Tuesday night to shout anti-war lyrics that have been called “extremist” under new Russian censorship laws.
“Where have you been for eight years, you f—— monsters? I want to watch ballet, let the swans dance,” they chanted in Russian in the busy thoroughfare. “Let your grandpa tremble with excitement for Swan Lake.”
The song titled Co-operative Swan Lake by Noize MC, the pro-Ukrainian rapper, has become an unofficial anthem to the growing dissolution and anger felt by young, liberal Russians towards [Putin’s regime](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2025/08/07/putin-silences-russia-internet-blackouts/).
The 40-year-old musician, whose real name is Ivan Alekseev, fled to Lithuania soon after Russia’s [full-scale invasion of Ukraine](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2022/02/28/have-never-protest-watershed-moment-russia/) in 2022.
Moscow has since declared him a “foreign agent”, a legal designation that has been used aggressively in the wake of the war to punish [critics of the Kremlin](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2022/06/18/russian-teenagers-facing-jail-protest-against-war-family/).
Mr Alekseev released Co-operative Swan Lake in 2022 to call for an end to Putin’s rule and condemn the apathy in Russian society towards the war in Ukraine and the annexation of Crimea in 2014.
**Read more:** [**https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2025/10/15/crowds-sing-banned-song-overthrowing-putin-st-petersburg/**](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2025/10/15/crowds-sing-banned-song-overthrowing-putin-st-petersburg/)
Anyone caught in the footage will likely be charged with some sort of “crime” (*~badmouthing the kremlin gremlin*) and end up in jail where they will be asked to redeem themselves by signing a contract as cannon fodder in the “special military operation”.
Russia has started to draft soldiers from the urban “sancturies” Moscow and St. Piter where the “true Russians” (*ethnic caucasians, russo-orthodox faith, obedient pro-Putin loyalists*) live that were previously mostly exempt from military service in Ukraine.
So now that it is upon them to die gruesomely for the kremlin gremlin, the previously loyal kremlin gremlin fanbase has become unhappy…
That will show Putin! Now, on the chorus sing a bit more off tune to really drive the knife in the back! /s
Sounds at least like a step in the right direction.
Not every Russian loves Putin.
Sadly, this is not enough, but is it a beginning ?
this is huge.
And?
That s way too small to have an effect but it s small move in the right decision i guess. They are only complaining because St petersburg start to receive draft notice.
They’re waking up!
The moment there is a possibility of conscripts ending up in shallow graves (if they are likely) in Ukraine, they start to think abojt overthrowing Putin. Took them fucking long enough, slept on their ears until there was a chance their (Russian) asses were on the line.
Do you hear the people sing? Singing the songs of angry men, it is the music of the people who will not be slaves again…
It’s a good sign that there are people who are not happy the way Russia is governed by the dictator and that they dare to show it at least a bit. But most probably there won’t be much of a revolution. Putin will have shot protesters down before they can even ask him to step down, knowing it would not just be his political end, but also the end of his life.
Putin’s terror reign will most likely be ended by his inner circle when they see enough weakness to try and take over power. Let’s hope this circulates telegram so one of these oligarchs gets brave with his private army, knowing that at least parts of Russian society might be willing to follow his version of suppression. If winter is cold and Ukraine makes it even colder and darker, there’s a good chance Putin might not have to plan another failing summer offensive.
I love that lyric: “Let your grandpa tremble in excitement for swan lake.”
When the Soviet Union fell, the state broadcaster played swan lake so I’m assuming this is a reference to the future playing of swan lake after Putin gets Ghaddafi’d
For people not knowing Russian history – Swan Lake (ballet dance) was what was shown on state TV *during the fall of USSR*
So it begins…
There will be hundreds of people falling from their windows in an unexplainable event
uploaded to youtube 13 years ago
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HHMA1Dpo5M&list=RDr_8PdHH4v4s&index=2](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HHMA1Dpo5M&list=RDr_8PdHH4v4s&index=2)
Probably won’t end well for them, but admirable effort.
For those with R-ssian language skillz, the complete lyrics: https://genius.com/Noize-mc-cooperative-swan-lake-lyrics Edit: and the music video: https://youtu.be/R0jkgXrXk44?si=gP52-2W0lCYMESIT
All it takes is for one small group to sing a song and then it festers up and out of control before you can say ‘WTF?’.
Putin will never see it coming.
In case they want to expand the playlist, [here’s a good one](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBqBJ6C5Mkw).
Brave people!
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