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

The Moscow Eccentric
December 01, 2016

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.

A Taste of Chekhov
December 24, 2022

A Taste of Chekhov

This compact volume is an introduction to the works of Chekhov the master storyteller, via nine stories spanning the last twenty years of his life.

How Russia Got That Way
September 20, 2025

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.

Driving Down Russia's Spine
June 01, 2016

Driving Down Russia's Spine

The story of the epic Spine of Russia trip, intertwining fascinating subject profiles with digressions into historical and cultural themes relevant to understanding modern Russia. 

Marooned in Moscow
May 01, 2011

Marooned in Moscow

This gripping autobiography plays out against the backdrop of Russia's bloody Civil War, and was one of the first Western eyewitness accounts of life in post-revolutionary Russia. Marooned in Moscow provides a fascinating account of one woman's entry into war-torn Russia in early 1920, first-person impressions of many in the top Soviet leadership, and accounts of the author's increasingly dangerous work as a journalist and spy, to say nothing of her work on behalf of prisoners, her two arrests, and her eventual ten-month-long imprisonment, including in the infamous Lubyanka prison. It is a veritable encyclopedia of life in Russia in the early 1920s.

Survival Russian
February 01, 2009

Survival Russian

Survival Russian is an intensely practical guide to conversational, colloquial and culture-rich Russian. It uses humor, current events and thematically-driven essays to deepen readers’ understanding of Russian language and culture. This enlarged Second Edition of Survival Russian includes over 90 essays and illuminates over 2000 invaluable Russian phrases and words.

Jews in Service to the Tsar
October 09, 2011

Jews in Service to the Tsar

Benjamin Disraeli advised, “Read no history: nothing but biography, for that is life without theory.” With Jews in Service to the Tsar, Lev Berdnikov offers us 28 biographies spanning five centuries of Russian Jewish history, and each portrait opens a new window onto the history of Eastern Europe’s Jews, illuminating dark corners and challenging widely-held conceptions about the role of Jews in Russian history.

White Magic
June 01, 2021

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.

The Pet Hawk of the House of Abbas
October 01, 2013

The Pet Hawk of the House of Abbas

This exciting new trilogy by a Russian author – who has been compared to Orhan Pamuk and Umberto Eco – vividly recreates a lost world, yet its passions and characters are entirely relevant to the present day. Full of mystery, memorable characters, and non-stop adventure, The Pet Hawk of the House of Abbas is a must read for lovers of historical fiction and international thrillers.

 
At the Circus
January 01, 2013

At the Circus

This wonderful novella by Alexander Kuprin tells the story of the wrestler Arbuzov and his battle against a renowned American wrestler. Rich in detail and characterization, At the Circus brims with excitement and life. You can smell the sawdust in the big top, see the vivid and colorful characters, sense the tension build as Arbuzov readies to face off against the American.

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