Russian Artist Who Criticised Vladimir Putin In His Songs Dies At 35

A Russian musician who criticised President Vladimir Putin in his songs has died after falling through ice while crossing a river, according to a report by New York Post. 35-year-old Dima Nova, whose real name was Dmitry Svirgunov, was the founder of the popular electronic group Cream Soda. 

As per the report, Mr Nova was crossing the frozen Volga River on March 19 with his brother and three friends when he fell through the ice. While two of his friends were rescued from under the ice, the third died in an ambulance.

Notably, the artist had often criticised Mr Putin in his songs and his music was used as an anthem during anti-war protests in Russia. His most popular and controversial song was ''Aqua Disco'', which was often sung at protests against Moscow's invasion of Ukraine. In his song, Mr Nova also criticised the Russian president's $1.3 billion mansion. The protests eventually became known as "Aqua Disco Parties.''

In an Instagram post, Cream Soda confirmed his death on Monday, with a caption that reads, ''We had a tragedy tonight. Our Dima Nova in the company of friends was walking along the Volga and fell under the ice. Dima, his brother Roma and friend Gosha Kiselev are still looking for the Ministry of Emergency Situations. Aristarchus, our friend who also fell under the ice, was caught, but could not be saved.''

In another post, the group shared photos of Mr Nova and his friend Kiselev, saying, “an official identification took place today at 9:00. Dima and Goshi are no more.”

Here's the post:

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A post shared by CREAM SODA (@creamsodamusic)

The band rose to massive popularity in 2021 when comedian Alexander Gudkov used one of their songs to poke fun at the Russian president over his luxury mansion dubbed ''Putin's Palace.''

The song lyrics include, "You are inviting me to the movies and for a couple of glasses. Inviting me to breathe in the shisha smoke, to chill on the covers, to watch the sunset from your marble boudoir/You just don't understand that it is very old-school.''