Jeff Monson, a 45-year-old American mixed martial arts champion, who's now in hot pursuit of Russian citizenship, has released a video of himself singing a Russian rock song while driving in his car.
Monson, who does not speak Russian, does his best to belt out the lyrics of “Peremen” (Change), a classic song by the Soviet band Kino. “Change! Our hearts demand it!” he repeats in heavily accented Russian from behind the wheel of what appears to be a van.
In recent years, this particular Kino song has become a standard rock tune played at Russian political demonstrations, where the theme of “change” appeals to anti-government protesters. Ironically, Monson is an avid supporter of the Kremlin and Vladimir Putin, whose praise in 2011 inspired Monson to start visiting Russia more frequently and even apply for citizenship. (He hasn't received it yet.)
Read The Moscow Times' October 2016 profile of Jeff Monson, available here, written by Matthew Bodner.
