Russian Rapper Husky Detained After Police Raid on Concert

Police detained a popular rapper in southern Russia after raiding a club in which he was scheduled to perform on Tuesday, days after one of his music videos was banned from YouTube.

Russian artists have faced increasing pressure from the authorities in recent months, including bans on music videos and blacklisted songs over indecent lyrics and alleged extremism.

Less than a week after his “Judas” music video was banned in Russia, a concert by Dmitry Kuznetsov, who goes by the stage name Husky,  was raided by the authorities in Rostov-on-Don on Tuesday over alleged “extremist activity,” minutes before he was scheduled to go on stage. Prosecutors had previously thwarted his show in Togliatti on Nov. 2.

Footage circulated online late on Wednesday showing police removing the rapper from the hood of a car, where he is chanting the lyrics to one of his songs with a crowd of fans surrounding him: “I will be singing my music / The most honest of music.”

“They brought three administrative protocols against the rapper Husky who was detained in Krasnodar,” his attorney, Alexei Avanesyan, told Interfax on Thursday.

Husky, whose legal name is Dmitry Kuznetsov, faces up to 15 days behind bars on counts of petty misdemeanor, unlawful assembly and refusal to submit to a medical exam, Avanesyan was quoted as saying.

Following the news of his arrest, club owners in Volgograd reportedly canceled Husky’s show on Friday.