In the district House of Culture in Porkhov in the Pskov region, discos were canceled after the DJ played a song by Verka Serduchka during a dance. This was reported by the director of the cultural center, Anna Tarasenkova, and the Pskov News Tape drew attention to this.
On January 1, in the group “Overheard in Porkhov,” a recording appeared that at one of the discos in the local cultural center, residents danced to Serduchka’s song “Gulyanochka”, which contains the words “Ukraine has not yet died.” “Guys, I don’t think that our guys, who have been mobilized and have been living in the forests for more than a year and giving their all for their Motherland, will like this New Year’s fan! It doesn’t seem to be “not dead yet” I need to dance!” — the post said.
The group members also began leaving negative comments, comparing the dancers with the visitors of Anastasia Ivleeva’s “naked” party and demanding an apology from the event organizers. Later, the director of the cultural center Tarasenkova apologized in the comments to the post. She emphasized that the composition was staged “without any intent” and promised to punish the DJ.
“I would like to say that the DC team was one of the first to get involved in organizing assistance to our military personnel during the first mobilization. Throughout the entire operation we always help and worry about our guys. Once again we apologize for the current situation among all Porkhovich residents and our defenders of the Fatherland,” she wrote. Tarasenkova later added that “due to the current situation,” discos are canceled for “an indefinite period.”
The cancellation of dances also caused negativity from local residents. In one of the subsequent posts in the “Overheard in Porkhov” group, it was reported that because of the song, “they made a mountain out of a molehill.” “You don’t know how to rest yourself and don’t let others. You would benefit from treatment. And the disco was probably banned by the old bastards who have nothing better to do, and where do you tell the young people to go or are they envious?” the publication says.
In August, according to protocols on “discrediting” the army (Article 20.3.3 of the Administrative Code) because of the song “Gulyanochka”, the court fined three residents of Alushta who danced to the song in a local water park. The girls were also forced to apologize and sing the song “Vladimir Putin is a great guy” on camera. Later, at the end of December, one of the participants in the war in Ukraine made a remark to the store employees in St. Petersburg, since Serduchka’s composition was also played there.