Russian opponent Alexei Navalny is sentenced to another 19 years in prison
Alexei Navalny, a Russian government opposition politician who has been imprisoned for three years, complains of poisonings, assaults and the lack of adequate medical treatment. This Monday he revealed that he is facing a new challenge: being forced to listen to a proPutin pop singer at 5 a.m. every day.
Navalney is a former lawyer who rose to fame more than a decade ago by satirizing President Vladimir Putin's elite and leveling corruption allegations. He is currently imprisoned about 60 km north of the Arctic Circle.
Navalny has been sentenced to prison until he turns 74 over claims he was fabricated to keep out of politics by a proPutin singer named Shaman.
The shaman's actual name is Jaroslaw Dronow. Riding a wave of wartime patriotism, he became a fixture on state television and is one of the celebrities who officially nominated Putin again for the presidency in March.
His signature song, which he sometimes sings in black leather and an armband in the colors of the Russian flag “I Am Russian” speaks of how Russians cannot be “broken”, can “go all the way” and carry the blood your parents.
The 32yearold singer sparked controversy in November for simulating the launch of a nuclear bomb by pressing a red button in an imitation nuclear suitcase before fireworks exploded around him in a concert broadcast on state television.
Navalny receives help in publishing his texts. In a message on the social network X, he described a morning routine.
“Singer Shaman became famous after I was already in prison, so I couldn't see him or hear his music. But I knew that he had become Putin's main singer. And that his main song is 'I am Russian.'” Navalny wrote.
“Of course I was curious to hear that, but where could I do that in prison? And then they took me to Yamal (prison site in the Arctic). And here every day at 5 a.m. we hear the command 'Get up!', followed by the Russian national anthem and immediately afterwards the country's second most important song 'I am Russian' by Shaman.”
The irony, according to Navalny, is that state propaganda once emphasized that he accompanied Russian nationalists on annual marches, and now, years later, he listens to ultranationalist pop music for educational purposes while doing his morning exercises in prison.
“To be honest, I'm still not sure I fully understand what postirony and metairony are. But if not, then what could it be?,” Navalny joked.
1 of 1 The file photo shows Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny during a court hearing via video link Photo: Evgenia Novozhenina/Portal The file photo shows Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny during a court hearing via video link Photo: Evgenia Novozhenina/Portal