A Ms. Crimea beauty queen winner has been sentenced for ‘discrediting’ Vladimir Putin’s army by singing a pro-Ukrainian song.
Olga Valeyeva, 34, posted a video of herself and a friend singing Chervona Kalyna, a Ukrainian resistance anthem, on her Instagram account.
Valeyeva won the crown of Mrs. Crimea this year, but the clip landed the mother of two in hot water on the Ukrainian peninsula that was annexed by Russia in 2014.
Under Russia’s draconian laws introduced to clamp down on criticism of Putin’s military following the despot’s invasion of mainland Ukraine in February, Valeyeva was fined, while her friend was jailed for ten days.
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Olga Valeyeva (right), 34, posted a video of her and a friend singing Chervona Kalyna, a Ukrainian resistance anthem, on her Instagram account. Both women were charged under draconian Russian laws that prohibit criticism of the Russian military.
The mother-of-two (pictured) won this year’s Mrs. Crimea beauty pageant, but the clip of her singing the pro-Ukraine got her in trouble in the Russian-annexed territory of Crimea.
Both women were accused of “discrediting” the Russian armed forces and “promoting extremist symbols” by singing the song in Ukrainian, as Moscow forces continue to be pushed back by Kyiv forces on the mainland.
Russian prosecutors claimed they had “displayed Nazi symbols in public”, although Putin officials now chose to view any Ukrainian symbols as Nazi.
They were forced to record a video to apologize for their act.
Putin’s repressive police see the song as “an anthem of Ukrainian nationalist formations, including groups banned in Russia.” Under international law, Crimea is Ukraine. It was seized by Putin’s armed forces in 2014.
Valeyeva was fined £600, seen as a lighter sentence because she has young children. Her friend Viktoria Amargalieva, 33, spent ten days behind bars.
In her humiliating apology, Olga said: ‘I sincerely apologize for singing Chervona Kalina, the meaning of which I had no idea.
Valeyeva (pictured) was fined £600, considered a lighter sentence because she has young children. Her friend Viktoria Amargalieva, 33, spent ten days behind bars.
Valeyeva’s friend Viktoria Amargalieva (pictured) was jailed for ten days for singing the pro-Ukrainian song. Valeyeva received the fine, seen as a lighter sentence, for being the mother of two young children.
‘I did not know or imagine that it was nationalist and in no way did I mean any propaganda message by singing it. I also want to apologize for unknowingly offending or insulting citizens by singing this song.
Before being jailed, Amargalieva said: ‘I want to apologize because we performed a song with a meaning that we did not know.
I apologize to everyone who may have been offended.
In theory, Instagram is banned as extremist in Russia, although many people, including Putin’s own officials, continue to use and access it via VPN.
Putin’s law enforcement is using sweeping new draconian laws to ‘discredit’ his invading army to overcome even mild criticism of his war which has cost hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian and Russian lives.
Chervona Kalyna was a patriotic march first published in 1875. It was modernized in 1914 by composer Stepan Charnetsky in 1914, in honor and memory of the Sich Riflemen of World War I.
The two women were forced to record a video to apologize for their act.
It was later adopted by both the Ukrainian People’s Army of the Ukrainian War of Independence and the WWII-era Ukrainian Insurgent Army, and has since taken many forms and many covers have been made.
Singing the song was prohibited while Ukraine was under the Soviet Union (from 1919 to 1991), but it was sung anyway. Those caught singing the song were often jailed, beaten, or exiled.
The song gained new life with the Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014, and now after Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
It gained international attention in March when an a cappella performance by Andriy Khlyvnyuk of the Ukrainian band BoomBox went viral and was remixed by various artists from around the world, including Pink Floyd.
Khlyvnyuk was on tour in the United States when Russia invaded on February 24. She returned home to fight for his home country and released the video of him singing the song, while wearing a military uniform, standing in a square in Kyiv.
The song reached the top of the Ukrainian music charts in 2022, and was specifically cited by Russian officials as an example of a song that would result in punishment.
It includes lyrics such as ‘Marching forward, our fellow volunteers, into a bloody fray, to free our Ukrainian brothers from Muscovite shackles’ and ‘Oh, in the early spring wheat field, there is a golden furrow, then the Ukrainian riflemen to engage the enemy.
