Second Russian performer detained for sock-on-penis stunt

A Russian singer has been detained for appearing before a concert audience wearing nothing but a sock on his penis, weeks after a rapper was jailed for doing the same at a Moscow party that caused a national scandal.

Maxim Tesli, the frontman of a band called Shchenki (The Puppies), was detained at a St Petersburg airport, the state news agency Tass reported. The local news outlet Fontanka said he had been charged with petty hooliganism.

Last month, Nikolai Vasilyev, a rapper known as Vacio, was jailed for 15 days and fined 200,000 roubles ($2,182) for propaganda of “non-traditional sexual relations” after using a sock to hide his penis at an “almost naked” party at a Moscow nightclub.

The event provoked a powerful backlash at a time when Russia is waging war in Ukraine and authorities are promoting an increasingly conservative social agenda. Many of the stars who attended have issued public apologies.

It was not clear if Tesli’s concert appearance was intended as a gesture of support for Vacio.

Russian media reported that the rapper’s initial 15-day sentence was extended by a further 10 days, and that he had been issued with a summons to appear at a military conscription office.