January 02, 2024

Up to Seven Years for Poetry


Up to Seven Years for Poetry
A penitential center in Moscow.  Senate of Russian Federation, Flickr.

On December 28, Russian poets Artem Kamardin and Yegor Shtovba have been handed prison sentences for their anti-war poems, with Kamardin receiving seven years and Shtovba receiving five years and six months in a penal colony. Another poet involved in the case, Nikolay Dayneko, received a four-year prison sentence earlier.

The Moscow court found the poets guilty of "group incitement of hostility" toward members of the armed formations of the self-proclaimed separatist republics of the LPR and DPR, as well as calls for activities against the security of the state. The charges stemmed from the poets reading anti-war poems in Moscow's city center during the September 2022 Mayakovsliye Chteniya (Mayakovsky poetry readings), a traditional cultural event where poets gather at the monument to Vladimir Mayakovsky to read poems publicly.

During the September 2022 event, the poets responded to the Russian invasion of Ukraine by organizing "anti-mobilization" public readings. Kamardin referred to Russia-friendly Ukrainian separatists as "terrorists" and expressed his views on the annexation of Ukrainian territories in a poem, saying, "Slava Kievskoy Rusy, Novorossiya Sosi" ("The glory of Kievan Rus is Novorossiya, suck it!").

Following the event, Kamardin was searched, and he reported police officers sexually assaulting him. Kamardin's girlfriend, Alexandra Popova, also reported torture, stating that security forces stuck stickers to her face with superglue, tried to seal her mouth, pulled out her hair, kicked her, and threatened rape. Then Kamardin was sent to a pre-trial detention center, along with Daineko and Shtovba, who repeated the reading lines from Kamardin's poem, according to investigators.

In court, Kamardin requested a suspended sentence, arguing that judging art is unacceptable as artistic statements can be interpreted in various ways. He emphasized that he had no intention of humiliating or insulting anyone and disclosed being diagnosed with "generalized anxiety disorder," asserting that his physical and mental health would not withstand a long prison sentence.

Shtovba, addressing the court, highlighted the lack of evidence connecting him to Kamardin or Daineko before their arrest. He asserted that he was unfamiliar with the other defendants, making it impossible for them to declare poems jointly. This case is one among many in Russia where participants in anti-war public actions receive lengthy prison sentences.

For instance, artist and former Bumaga employee Sasha Skochilenko was convicted of spreading "fakes" about the Russian army by placing price tags in a Perekrestok store with data about those being killed and bombed in Ukraine. According to the human rights project OVD-Info, nearly 800 people in Russia face criminal prosecution for their anti-war stance.

You Might Also Like

A Very Famous Terrorist
  • December 25, 2023

A Very Famous Terrorist

Popular writer Boris Akunin has been added to the Kremlin's list of terrorists and extremists.
An Anti-War Art Awakening
  • December 18, 2023

An Anti-War Art Awakening

Anonymous artist Zless creates anti-war art that juxtaposes traditional Russian symbols and the horrors of the invasion of Ukraine.
Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of Our Books

Marooned in Moscow

Marooned in Moscow

This gripping autobiography plays out against the backdrop of Russia's bloody Civil War, and was one of the first Western eyewitness accounts of life in post-revolutionary Russia. Marooned in Moscow provides a fascinating account of one woman's entry into war-torn Russia in early 1920, first-person impressions of many in the top Soviet leadership, and accounts of the author's increasingly dangerous work as a journalist and spy, to say nothing of her work on behalf of prisoners, her two arrests, and her eventual ten-month-long imprisonment, including in the infamous Lubyanka prison. It is a veritable encyclopedia of life in Russia in the early 1920s.
Life Stories: Original Fiction By Russian Authors

Life Stories: Original Fiction By Russian Authors

The Life Stories collection is a nice introduction to contemporary Russian fiction: many of the 19 authors featured here have won major Russian literary prizes and/or become bestsellers. These are life-affirming stories of love, family, hope, rebirth, mystery and imagination, masterfully translated by some of the best Russian-English translators working today. The selections reassert the power of Russian literature to affect readers of all cultures in profound and lasting ways. Best of all, 100% of the profits from the sale of this book are going to benefit Russian hospice—not-for-profit care for fellow human beings who are nearing the end of their own life stories.
The Little Humpbacked Horse (bilingual)

The Little Humpbacked Horse (bilingual)

A beloved Russian classic about a resourceful Russian peasant, Vanya, and his miracle-working horse, who together undergo various trials, exploits and adventures at the whim of a laughable tsar, told in rich, narrative poetry.
Maria's War: A Soldier's Autobiography

Maria's War: A Soldier's Autobiography

This astonishingly gripping autobiography by the founder of the Russian Women’s Death Battallion in World War I is an eye-opening documentary of life before, during and after the Bolshevik Revolution.
Russian Rules

Russian Rules

From the shores of the White Sea to Moscow and the Northern Caucasus, Russian Rules is a high-speed thriller based on actual events, terrifying possibilities, and some really stupid decisions.
The Latchkey Murders

The Latchkey Murders

Senior Lieutenant Pavel Matyushkin is back on the case in this prequel to the popular mystery Murder at the Dacha, in which a serial killer is on the loose in Khrushchev’s Moscow...
Jews in Service to the Tsar

Jews in Service to the Tsar

Benjamin Disraeli advised, “Read no history: nothing but biography, for that is life without theory.” With Jews in Service to the Tsar, Lev Berdnikov offers us 28 biographies spanning five centuries of Russian Jewish history, and each portrait opens a new window onto the history of Eastern Europe’s Jews, illuminating dark corners and challenging widely-held conceptions about the role of Jews in Russian history.
The Little Golden Calf

The Little Golden Calf

Our edition of The Little Golden Calf, one of the greatest Russian satires ever, is the first new translation of this classic novel in nearly fifty years. It is also the first unabridged, uncensored English translation ever, and is 100% true to the original 1931 serial publication in the Russian journal 30 Dnei. Anne O. Fisher’s translation is copiously annotated, and includes an introduction by Alexandra Ilf, the daughter of one of the book’s two co-authors.
Survival Russian

Survival Russian

Survival Russian is an intensely practical guide to conversational, colloquial and culture-rich Russian. It uses humor, current events and thematically-driven essays to deepen readers’ understanding of Russian language and culture. This enlarged Second Edition of Survival Russian includes over 90 essays and illuminates over 2000 invaluable Russian phrases and words.
Driving Down Russia's Spine

Driving Down Russia's Spine

The story of the epic Spine of Russia trip, intertwining fascinating subject profiles with digressions into historical and cultural themes relevant to understanding modern Russia. 

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955