Diana Loginova left Russia after a series of arrests
The lead singer of the street band Stoptime, Diana Loginova (Naoko), left Russia on the night of 23 November, immediately after being released from the detention centre. The band's guitarist, Aleksandr Orlov, is also out of the country after the end of his third administrative arrest, but his lawyer refrained from commenting on his departure.
The St. Petersburg musicians spent more than a month under arrest, and were not released after their first detention. Loginova and Orlov were released after serving a third consecutive administrative arrest. The series of persecutions, which began in mid-autumn, became one of the most high-profile cases related to street musicians in Russia. For many, the two became the faces of the Kremlin’s crackdown.
The first detention occurred in October at the Vosstaniya Square metro station during a street concert. The musicians were accused for organising mass gatherings of citizens and were sentenced to 12-13 days in arrest. In addition to the arrests, Naoko was fined 30,000 roubles under the article on discrediting the army for performing Monetochka’s song ‘You Are a Soldier’. The song does not mention the Russian army or Russia in general, which the prosecution could not dispute in court. Then the court added another 13 days of arrest under the article on petty hooliganism (for obscene language in the song that was performed).
After serving the second term, on 11 November, a decision was made for a third consecutive arrest of Loginova and Orlov, again for ‘organising a mass gathering of people’. The band’s drummer, Vladislav Leontyev, was released earlier after serving the second arrest. Naoko’s lawyer, Maria Zyryanova, confirmed that ‘the guys are safe’ and asked for ‘a little silence’. According to media reports, police officers deliberately took the musicians from the detention centre to another district of St. Petersburg so that they would not encounter journalists and public activists who were waiting for their release at the detention centre.
The group Stoptime, which appeared in St. Petersburg in the spring-summer of 2025, gained fame for performing on the streets songs by Russian artists, who are recognised by the authorities as ‘foreign agents’, making their persecution significant for the entire Russian street music scene.
