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Кооператив «Лебединое озеро»

Нойз МС

The song Кооператив «Лебединое озеро» [Kooperativ Lebedinye ozero] or Swan Lake Cooperative by the Russian rapper Noize MC is a satire on Vladimir Putin and his entourage. It is an indictment of everything that has gone wrong in the Russian Federation since Putin's rise to power.

The title

The song's title is itself a double satire. It refers not only to the world-famous ballet The Swan Lake by the Russian composer Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893), but also to Putin's entourage and the nepotism that characterises his policies.

On November 11, 1996, the cooperative society Озеро [Ozero], or The Lake, was established in Saint Petersburg. It is a legal vehicle through which eight men purchased large plots of land near the village of Solovyovka on the shores of Lake Komsomolskoye northwest of Saint Petersburg. They built luxurious summer houses on this lucrative land and spent much of their time together. One of them was Vladimir Putin; The other seven, without exception, quickly became successful businessmen and government officials after Putin took office, and they remain part of his close entourage that governs the country.

Noize MC

The melody

The song's melody is taken from the allegro moderato of Danse des petits cygnes or Dance of the Little Swans, the famous «quatre pas» from the second act of the ballet The Swan Lake by composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovski. That ballet has special significance for many Russians, as it symbolises the collapse of the Soviet Union. During the coup in Moscow in August 1991, the ballet was broadcast continuously on national television channels instead of the news, so that the population remained hungry for news about what was happening at the top of the country.

Swan Lake Cooperative - Noize MC

In the video clip above, you can see how the audience in the hall and on stage attempts to perform the «quatre pas».

The lyrics

The line «Where were you during those eight years?» refers to the period between 2014 and 2022, when Russia annexed Crimea and 30,000 Russian soldiers operated in the Donbas, where, under the command of former FSB Colonel Igor Vsevolodovich Girkin (°1970), also known as Igor Strelkov, they shot down Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17. At the time, the Russian troops wore uniforms without insignia to give the impression that they were Russian-speaking Ukrainian opponents of the government in Kyiv. With these words, Noize MC condemns the apathy that Russian society showed for eight years towards the war in Ukraine and the annexation of Crimea.

The line «Get those damned nightingales off the screen» refers to the war propaganda in the daily talk shows on various Russian state channels. A nightingale in Russian is a соловей [solovyej], which refers to Vladimir Rudolfovich Solovjov, the host of the television programme An Evening with Vladimir Solovyov on Russia 1. Solovyov is one of Putin's most brazen propagandists. In June 2017, he called participants in an anti-corruption rally in Moscow «the eternal two-percent shit». He also considered Adolf Hitler «a brave man compared to opposition leader Aleksei Navalny». Solovyov has previously called for the complete extermination of the populations of Kharkiv, Nikolaev, and Odesa. And on January 12, 2023, he encouraged the Kremlin on the social media platform Telegram to attack not only Ukraine, but other countries as well: «Any military target on French, Polish, and British territory - we must officially declare it - is a legitimate target for us to attack».

Solovyov' call

The Primorsky District Court of Saint Petersburg banned the song in May 2025 for its «extremistische karakter». It was considered «propaganda for the violent overthrow of the government» and «a threat to the moral and ethical development of Russian youth». Nevertheless, it has since become an unofficial anthem for the growing disillusionment and anger that young, liberal Russians feel toward Putin's regime.