A court in Crimea fined three women 15,000 rubles (138 euros) for “discrediting” the Russian army, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia announced on Friday, News.ro reported with reference to “Nova Gazeta Europa”.

The incident happened in the water park in the city of Alushta on August 8.

In the statement of the Russian agency, it is said that three women who work as children’s animators in the water park “danced in public” to a song of “unacceptable content” by a Ukrainian artist.

The Telegram channel of pre-war Crimea SMERSH published a video in which women dance to Verka Serdyuchka’s song “Gulyanochka”.

One of the lines is “Ukraine is not lost yet, if we walk like this.”

Verka Serdyuchka, the beloved heroine of Ukrainian artist Andrii Danylko, has been popular in Russia and Ukraine for decades.

Since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Danylko has categorically opposed the war and started the Help for Ukraine concert tour, performing in several countries.

In the next video, the women apologize and sing “Vladimir Putin is a good person.”

The workers of the water park, aged 19, 20 and 26, were detained the next day.

According to the agency in Moscow, two of them are Russian citizens who came to Alushta for summer work, and the third woman was originally from Crimea.

Later, the same Telegram channel published a video in which the women apologize and then sing the song “Vladimir Putin is well done.”

In December 2022, three men were arrested in Crimea and charged with “discrediting” the Russian armed forces for “listening to and loudly singing the songs of Ukrainian nationalists.”

In May 2023, Krasnodar Mayor Yevhen Naumov ordered an inspection of the city’s karaoke clubs after Verka Serdyuchka’s song was played in one of them.

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