Russian singer risks prison sentence by mocking 'our Caesar' Vladimir Putin

Popular Russian musician Yuri Shevchuk, 65, defied authorities after speaking out against the war in Ukraine in front of an audience of 10,000 people who applauded his message

A popular Russian singer has risked a possible prison sentencing by speaking out against Vladimir Putin over the war with Ukraine.

Rock musician Yuri Shevchuk, 65, was playing a concert in Ufa to 10,000 fans when he mocked “our Caesar” and Putin's invasion - which won strong applause from the crowd.

Risking a prison sentence, under Russia ’s draconian laws, he asked the crowd: “People are now killed in Ukraine, what for?

“Why are our guys dying there? Friends, what are the goals, that the youth of Russia, [and] the elderly, women, children are dying for?

“Because of some Napoleonic plans of our Caesar?”

This was greeted by strong applause and then he said: “The motherland, friends, is not the president's ass that should be constantly caressed and kissed.

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“The Motherland is a poor grandmother selling potatoes [to survive] at a [railway] station…

“This is the motherland [strong applause].”

The leader of iconic Russian rock band DDT, he has a long record of opposing wars, for example in Chechnya but also in former Yugoslavia.

Last night’s act of defiance was one of the most striking by a Russian figure since the start of the war, with many too cowed by oppressive anti-freedom of speech laws to speak out.

He has challenged Putin previously for undemocratic policies - to his face - and earlier refused to perform in a concert with the ‘Z’ symbols of the war in Ukraine.

His strong anti-war defiance at a concert in oil-rich Ufa was praised by leading Russian opposition politician Ksenia Sobchak, a former presidential candidate.

“I don't know what will happen to Shevchuk after this concert,” she posted.

She later said that the law enforcement authorities had drawn up a criminal protocol against Shevchuk “for discrediting the Russian armed forces”.

Potentially this could lead to a fine or up to three years in jail.

Producer Radmir Usaev said via Instagram, blocked in Russia as “extremist”, that two special forces Spetsnaz officers had guarded the entrance to Shevchuk’s dressing room, cutting him off from band members.

He was held for an hour as law enforcement officers spoke to him “about what happened at the concert [...] and Shevchuk's statements about the war and the motherland”, he said.

“They even wanted to detain [Yuri Shevchuk], but at the very last moment they had enough common sense [not to],” he said.

“Once again Shevchuk confirmed that he is a real man, he had no fear after he was [temporarily] detained.”

However, he will be expected to face court with the threat of a jail sentence hanging over him.

The singer has previously denounced the war, branding it “a huge tragedy that deprives many of us of the future. I'm in shock.

“We worry, we don't sleep at night, we watch the news, we call friends, probably the same as all residents of Ukraine and Russia.

“What should we do? Do what must be done, and be what will be…. Talk about peace with people wherever possible.

“To speak calmly, without hysteria, because the time has come. It is very important.”

In one song in 2008, he attacked the then president Dmitry Medvedev over the Russian–Georgian war.

It included the lyric: "When the oil runs dry, our president will die."

In 2010 Shevchuk won a TV pledge from Putin that people should have the right to protest - although later such freedoms were curtailed.

'People's right to express their disapproval of the government should be protected,'' said Putin at the time.

''But participants in such demonstrations should not disturb those who do not want to demonstrate, and just want to get home in time and be with their families.’'

After his on-stage blast against Putin, he sang his 1996 song ‘Love’ dedicated to reconciliation after the Chechen War.