One of Putin’s fiercest critics is forced to listen to pop songs about the Russian leader everyday in his jail cell.
Alexei Navalny, a jailed Russian opposition leader, said that he is woken up every morning by the national anthem, followed by 'I Am Russian' by Shaman.
Talking about the routine ordeal on social media, he said: “Every day at five 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.”
In a message that his supporters helped to publicise, Navalny said that the singer of the song became popular after he was incarcerated.
Alexei Navalny is forced to listen to a Russian pop song every morning in prison
Getty
“[He] came to prominence when I was already in prison so I could neither see him nor listen to his music. But I knew he had become Putin's main singer. And that his main song was 'I am Russian'.
“Of course, I was curious to hear it, but where could I listen to it in prison?”
He has been sentenced to stay in prison until he is 74 on charges that he claims were given to him to keep him out of politics.
He rose to prominence over 10 years ago, when he voiced allegations of mass corruption regarding Putin’s government.
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Navalny is being kept in a prison around 60km (40 miles) north of the Arctic Circle
Reuters
Shaman, the singer of the song, is one of the celebrities endorsing Putin to run again for president in March.
The chorus of his popular song is: “I’m Russian. I’ll fight to the end/ I’m Russian, my father’s blood flows in me, hey-hey/ I’m Russian and I’m lucky with this fact/ I’m Russian to spite the whole world.”
The song also talks of how Russians cannot “be broken” and “go to the end” to carry the blood of their ancestors.
Navalny pointed out the irony in the song that is constantly blasted into his cell every morning to wake him up.
Navalny rose to prominence when he voiced allegations of mass corruption regarding Putin’s government
Reuters
He highlighted the fact that he used to march with Russian nationalists, and now, years later, he was being played an ultra-nationalist pop song whilst doing his morning exercises.
Navalny quipped: “To be honest, I’m still not sure that I correctly understand what post-irony and meta-irony are. But if that’s not it, what is it?”
He is being kept in a prison around 60km (40 miles) north of the Arctic Circle.
It took Navalny three weeks to arrive at the prison, after completing a 1,200-mile journey by road and rail.