JONATHAN TURLEY

Putin Does Not Twerk: Women Jailed For Twerking In Russia

A Russian court has sentencing two women and a teenager to 15 days jail time for twerking. That’s right, twerking. The women filmed a dance video with twerking in front of a World War II memorial. The timing could not be worse — or better — depending on your perspective. The Putin regime is using the 70th anniversary of the Allied victory to rally citizens. The court ruled that the twerking constituted “hooliganism.” You will recall that this is the same undefined crime used to jail two members of punk band Pussy Riot to prison for two years for an impromptu protest at Moscow’s main cathedral in 2012.

Five women were found guilty of “hooliganism” but two of them were spared jail due to poor health.

The anniversary of the victory is a sensitive subject with some countries vehemently rejecting questions over their role in the war, such as the recent controversy dealing with Poland and the holocaust. For Russia, the historical debate continues. The country lost more than any other nation in the war and carried on a heroic struggle against the Germans. However, Stalin originally signed a non-aggression pact with Hitler under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact and agreed to carve up its neighbors with him before Hitler turned on Russia. People in Finland and other countries have strikingly different views of the Russian role in the war, particularly at the outset.

What is striking about this story is that there is no indication whether the women were trying to make a political statement or merely selected a public area as a back drop. It is also not clear if you need a permit for such a filming in front of the memorial. The memorial itself is shown at a distance.

It appears to be the twerking that is driving the charges. Russian police are also investigating a dance school in the city of Orenburg after a YouTube video showed school girls dressed as bees and twerking in a sexually suggestive Winnie the Pooh routine sparked outrage. The video led to the school being temporarily shut down.

This is all Miley Cyrus’s fault.