The Daily Swarm

The Observers:

“Graffiti is becoming a true art, fine and delicate. And breakdance is something peculiar. This really is propaganda for a healthy lifestyle because it is hard to imagine breakdancing having anything to do with drinking and dope. I must say honestly that those young people who are pursuing these kinds of arts in our country are bringing in their own, Russian charm.”

From The Observers story in August about the anti-Kremlin punk rock not-so-surprisingly shunned by the government:

Punk has been more or less entirely removed from the Russian media since Vladimir Putin’s first term as president in 2000. Last month we were made aware that some of the music fans had even been added to the government’s extremist list and supporters of punk groups were being placed under police surveillance. The lengthy crackdown pushed some groups to go mainstream. But one band which did not succumb to the censorship, is PTVP, or “The Last Tanks in Paris”. After AFP published a story about the band on Monday, the Western media fell in love with PTVP, being particularly taken with the idea of calling Putin a pig.

The song in which Putin is referred to as such is called FSB Whore (referring to the Federal Security Service, successor to the KGB). The lyrics are short and to the point:

“He always lies to you

Just don’t listen to him

Putin-Putin-Putin

A pig will always find mud to roll in”