August 16, 2023

A Video Song-Apology


A Video Song-Apology
The waterpark employees in Crimea. MBD Respubliki Krym, Youtube.

On August 8, three waterpark entertainers in Crimea were filmed singing and dancing to a song by Verka Serduchka, a well-known Ukrainian singer. On August 11, a court fined them and forced the employees to record a video of them apologizing and singing "Vladimir Putin-Molodets" (Vladimir Putin is Great). 

Two of the employees (who are 19, 20, and 26) traveled to Crimea from Russia for the summer, while the third is from Crimea. Alexander Talipov, a pro-war blogger, posted a video on his Telegram of the three employees dancing to Verka Serduchka's "Gulyanochka," which includes the verse, "Ukraine has not died yet if we walk like this." 

It's not the first time Russian-appointed authorities in Crimea have persecuted residents for listening to Serduchka's music. In 2022, residents in Yalta were listening to "Gulyanochka" when police fined them and forced a woman in the group to record an apology in tears. The head of Crimea, Sergey Aksyonov, has threatened to hold criminally liable anyone who "chanted Ukrainian slogans at public events, singing songs [and] nationalist hymns."

In the apology video published by the Crimean Police, the three women do not look at the camera while singing, as they are clearly reading a prepared text.

Listen to Gulyanochka

You Might Also Like

A Flood. And Support.
  • August 15, 2023

A Flood. And Support.

Expressing our thanks and optimism amid war, floods, and publishing challenges.
Notes at the Front
  • August 15, 2023

Notes at the Front

More poignant and brave “last words” of dissenters, and a look at one popular place (again) of exile.
Final Thoughts

Final Thoughts

Considering some telling facts and figures from Russia, the war, and where things are now.
Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of Our Books

Faith & Humor: Notes from Muscovy

Faith & Humor: Notes from Muscovy

A book that dares to explore the humanity of priests and pilgrims, saints and sinners, Faith & Humor has been both a runaway bestseller in Russia and the focus of heated controversy – as often happens when a thoughtful writer takes on sacred cows. The stories, aphorisms, anecdotes, dialogues and adventures in this volume comprise an encyclopedia of modern Russian Orthodoxy, and thereby of Russian life.
Maria's War: A Soldier's Autobiography

Maria's War: A Soldier's Autobiography

This astonishingly gripping autobiography by the founder of the Russian Women’s Death Battallion in World War I is an eye-opening documentary of life before, during and after the Bolshevik Revolution.
White Magic

White Magic

The thirteen tales in this volume – all written by Russian émigrés, writers who fled their native country in the early twentieth century – contain a fair dose of magic and mysticism, of terror and the supernatural. There are Petersburg revenants, grief-stricken avengers, Lithuanian vampires, flying skeletons, murders and duels, and even a ghostly Edgar Allen Poe.
Woe From Wit (bilingual)

Woe From Wit (bilingual)

One of the most famous works of Russian literature, the four-act comedy in verse Woe from Wit skewers staid, nineteenth century Russian society, and it positively teems with “winged phrases” that are essential colloquialisms for students of Russian and Russian culture.
The Samovar Murders

The Samovar Murders

The murder of a poet is always more than a murder. When a famous writer is brutally stabbed on the campus of Moscow’s Lumumba University, the son of a recently deposed African president confesses, and the case assumes political implications that no one wants any part of.
Tolstoy Bilingual

Tolstoy Bilingual

This compact, yet surprisingly broad look at the life and work of Tolstoy spans from one of his earliest stories to one of his last, looking at works that made him famous and others that made him notorious. 
How Russia Got That Way

How Russia Got That Way

A fast-paced crash course in Russian history, from Norsemen to Navalny, that explores the ways the Kremlin uses history to achieve its ends.
The Little Humpbacked Horse (bilingual)

The Little Humpbacked Horse (bilingual)

A beloved Russian classic about a resourceful Russian peasant, Vanya, and his miracle-working horse, who together undergo various trials, exploits and adventures at the whim of a laughable tsar, told in rich, narrative poetry.
Russian Rules

Russian Rules

From the shores of the White Sea to Moscow and the Northern Caucasus, Russian Rules is a high-speed thriller based on actual events, terrifying possibilities, and some really stupid decisions.
The Moscow Eccentric

The Moscow Eccentric

Advance reviewers are calling this new translation "a coup" and "a remarkable achievement." This rediscovered gem of a novel by one of Russia's finest writers explores some of the thorniest issues of the early twentieth century.
Okudzhava Bilingual

Okudzhava Bilingual

Poems, songs and autobiographical sketches by Bulat Okudzhava, the king of the Russian bards. 

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955