A teenage Russian street musician who has spent nearly a month in jail after singing anti-Kremlin songs was handed more jail time on Tuesday in a case rights activists say shows how stifling wartime censorship has become.
Diana Loginova, 18, who sings in a group called Stoptime, was arrested in her native St. Petersburg last month after giving a series of impromptu street concerts in the heart of Russia's second city in which she belted out cover versions of songs penned by Kremlin critics with sometimes subtle anti-war and, in one case, anti-Putin lyrics.
Loginova, whose performances prompted young passersby to sing along and saw the band swiftly build a social media audience of over 50,000 followers, has already been jailed twice after video of the concerts went viral online and attracted the attention of the authorities.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.