PUSSY RIOT protest Putin’s presidential victory with new song - 'Elections'

19 March 2018

Sunday saw Vladimir Putin win another six years as Russia’s president thanks to what we’re sure was a completely legitimate execution of democracy. As predictable as his victory was, it’s equally unsurprising that one of his most vocal opponents, the political punks PUSSY RIOT, had a song and video ready for release as soon as the results were announced.

Entitled 'ELECTIONS' the CHAIKA-produced track is a grimy, industrial hip-hop harangue against Putin and his reign. Sung entirely in Russian, some of the lyrics translate into a direct call of defiance: “Six years we’re gonna fight, fight/ We’re not gonna obey during this term.” The accompanying clip features paintings by Oleg Navalny, who’s serving a three-and-a-half year prison term and happens to be the brother of Putin’s greatest political rival, Alexey Navalny. (Navalny was barred from running in the election.)

The song follows 'Bad Apples', which PUSSY RIOT shared earlier this month. Check out the video below.

PUSSY RIOT, who are currently touring North America, also shared a message along with the video. They insinuated that the Russian elections were rigged and listed out Putin’s failures over the last 18 years:

“What 18 years of Putin’s power has brought to us? Arrests, poisonings, tortures, murders of political activists. Institutional corruption which is HUGE. Total erosion of democratic institutions. Giant economic inequality. Worsening of prison conditions. Environmental catastrophe in lots of industrial regions of Russia. Censorship everywhere – in media, in education, in internet, in people’s heads. Self-censorship, caused by fear.

You should not be deceived, this event on 18th of March is not elections. Falsifications, eliminations of political opponents, Kremlin-controlled media leave no chance to anybody except Putin.”