Russian singer reported for ‘LGBT propaganda’ and arrested following nude performance at St. Petersburg concert

Russian singer Maxim Tesli has been arrested following a concert in which he performed a song in the nude.

On January 7, during a concert by his band, Shchenki (“The Puppies”), in St. Petersburg, Tesli appeared on stage wearing nothing but a sock, which he soon removed.

After the performance, according to the Telegram channel Mash, Kremlin-backed activist Vitaly Borodin reported Tesli to the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office, claiming his naked stunt contained “LGBT propaganda.”

On Tuesday, Mash reported that Tesli had been arrested at St. Petersburg’s Pulkovo Airport. According to the news outlet Fontanka, the singer is being charged with disorderly conduct, “but a felony case is looming in his future.”

Censorship activist Ekaterina Mizulina called Tesli an imitator of the rapper Vacio, who served two jail sentences after attending a star-studded “almost naked” party in Moscow, where he pioneered the sock-only outfit, in December.