By Olha Hembik | 2025-12-02

On today's Crimean peninsula, a song played through a kitchen speaker, or even behind a closed apartment door, can trigger a police report, a trial and a public confession video.

Russian authorities have steadily expanded a campaign to punish residents for listening to Ukrainian music, even in private spaces or through personal headphones.

Once-targeted wartime anthems such as "Chervona Kalyna" ("Red Viburnum"), "Dike Pole" ("Wild Fields") and "Fortetsya Bakhmut" ("Bakhmut Fortress") are explicitly banned. Now, Crimea.Realities reported, even neutral songs in Ukrainian have become grounds for prosecution.

Residents increasingly face administrative trials, fines and public shaming videos.

Growing list of cases

In October, two men in Armyansk were convicted for playing Ukrainian songs. In the first case, authorities said local resident Stanislav Trach placed a speaker on his windowsill and played music by a Ukrainian band, along with a song by Ukrainian singer Oleg Vinnik. He was charged with "committing public actions aimed at discrediting the Russian Armed Forces." Court documents noted that "the defendant admitted his guilt" and paid a fine.

A week later, neighbors in Armyansk reported Igor Goncharuk for playing music loudly, including Vinnik's "Chervona Kalyna" and the Ukrainian national anthem. He was charged with the same offense.

In another October case, police in the Pervomaiske District accused Oktyabrskoye resident Igor Pochigaylo of listening to Ukrainian songs in a store.

Authorities said the music undermined "confidence in the Russian Armed Forces' conduct of a special military operation" and even the "partial mobilization of citizens." He was fined 30,000 RUB (about $300).

In January, Yevpatoria resident Vitaly Kirpach was arrested after neighbors reported he had played a Ukrainian song about a mother inside his own home.

Crimea.Realities reported that a network of denunciations has taken hold across the peninsula, with residents routinely informing on one another over music choices.

Since 2022, at least 30 Crimeans have been detained or charged for playing Ukrainian music, according to North.Realities. Nineteen of those cases occurred in 2022, the year Russia launched its full-scale invasion. Most charges were filed under Article 20.3.3 of Russia's administrative code, the statute on "discrediting the Russian Armed Forces." Others involved allegations of extremist symbols or petty hooliganism.

Altogether, Russian authorities have pursued at least 44 prosecutions tied to Ukrainian songs since 2022, whether the music was played at karaoke, in a mall or at a dance event.

Oleg Kryuchkov, an adviser to Crimea's Russian-installed administration, previously claimed that only "decent Ukrainian songs" were allowed. But lawyer Elzara Shukurdzhieva, the wife of Crimean Tatar activist Veldar Shukurdzhiev, said repression intensified after Russia seized Crimea in 2014.

She told Kontur her husband continued bringing Ukrainian books to the peninsula through 2015 and organized a Ukrainian library, prompting repeated interrogations.

"Before each event, the [Federal Security Service] FSB officers got a signed acknowledgment that he could be arrested. My husband signed and still went [to the rallies]. He was even arrested for unfurling the Ukrainian flag," she said.

During one visit, security officers warned him not to return.

"They said that if you come again, you'll never be found. He realized then that the games were over," she said.

Songs as protest

Tamila Tasheva, the Permanent Representative of the President of Ukraine in Crimea, said the prosecutions were intended to crush pro-Ukrainian sentiment.

"The Russians continue to pressure people who openly express their support for Ukraine, write about the occupiers' crimes on social media, and demonstrate that they are unwilling to accept the occupation regime," Tasheva told Kontur.

For some residents, Ukrainian songs became acts of defiance.

A Simferopol woman, Anna, told Kontur she used "Everything Will Be Fine" by Okean Elzy as her ringtone until 2023, and set the Ukrainian anthem for incoming calls while displaying the Ukrainian flag on social media.

"There were problems, but no one was bothered over songs. Even after February 2022, I saw people with Ukrainian flags in their cars. But then the occupiers came up with the charge of 'discreditation,' and that's when things became truly dangerous. You can be called a Nazi just for Ukrainian songs," she said on condition of anonymity.

Anna pointed to one of the most prominent cases: a 2022 wedding in Bakhchysarai where guests played "Chervona Kalyna." Authorities issued six administrative reports. The banquet hall owner received 15 days in jail, his wife was fined 50,000 RUB (about $500), and a DJ and dancer were jailed for 10 days each. The groom's mother was jailed for five days; the bride's mother was fined 40,000 RUB (about $400).

At least seven new cases emerged in 2024 and 2025. In one, the director and DJ of the Atmosphere nightclub were charged with discrediting the military after playing Verka Serduchka's "Gulyanochka," which includes the line "Ukraine has not yet perished." The DJ later appeared in a recorded apology, saying he "supports Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the Kremlin's policies."

As of October 20, the Ukrainian presidential representation said it had documented 1,602 cases in Crimea filed under the discrediting article.