Navalny woken by pro-putin music at 5am in Arctic prison
ALEXEI NAVALNY is being blasted with pro-putin pop music at 5am every morning during his incarceration in a Siberian penal colony.
The Kremlin critic, who was secretly transferred to the Arctic prison known as the Polar Wolf last month, said he was being forced to listen to Shaman, a singer-songwriter who is one of the most recognisable faces of the Kremlin’s propaganda machine. “Every day at 5 o’clock in the morning, we hear the command ‘Get up!’ followed by the Russian national anthem and then immediately afterwards, the country’s second most important song is played – I am Russian by Shaman,” Mr Navalny said.
Shaman, whose real name is Yaroslav Dronov, has become a regular fixture on Russian state television. He has also performed at patriotic rallies organised by Vladimir Putin, the Russian president. A vocal supporter of the invasion of Ukraine, Shaman rose out of obscurity after performing on Russian versions of The X Factor and The Voice.
One of his songs, Rise Up, a patriotic tribute to the heroes of Russia, was released on the eve of the invasion of Ukraine and has become the unofficial anthem of the war. Another, My Fight, was widely criticised in Russia for apparent references to Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf. His 2022 hit I am Russian, became a pop-culture phenomenon in Russia but was roundly mocked by music fans, inspiring a raft of parodies.
The song, with its rousing chorus of “I’m Russian, I’ll fight to the end” and “I’m Russian and I’m lucky with this fact”, is accompanied by a patriotic music video featuring the blond, dreadlocked singer alternately striding across a field of wheat and performing to a frenzied crowd, before aliens arrive and begin dancing to the song. Shaman has often performed the song dressed in a black leather trench coat with an armband in the colours of the Russian flag.
Mr Navalny, 47, said he had already been imprisoned when he first heard of the song, which has more than 48million views on Youtube. “Of course I was curious to hear it, but where could I listen to it in prison,” adding that it was ironic he was being subjected to the song, given that “Kremlin propaganda persecuted me for years for taking part in Russian marches”.
Last week, Shaman was forced to deny accusations that his latest single was dedicated to Mr Navalny and contained hidden references to his incarceration. The music video to Alive begins with a dedication to “all those who suffered for the truth”, accompanied by images of the singer in a jail.
Russian social media users drew parallels with Mr Navalny’s imprisonment on politically motivated charges of “extremism”. Some noted the song was released on Jan 18 – the same day Mr Navalny returned to Russia from Germany, where he was given life-saving treatment after his near-fatal poisoning.
Mr Navalny was placed in solitary confinement for the 25th time late on Monday evening for “incorrectly introducing himself ” to a guard, his spokesman said. He was first jailed in 2021, soon after his return to Russia. His sentence was then extended to 19 years on extremism charges, and he was moved to a more secure, harsher prison.
‘Every day at 5am, we hear the command “Get up!” followed by the Russian national anthem’