Russia reportedly paid $35,000 for a music video discouraging anti-government protests

The Russian government paid a pop singer $35,000 for a music video that discourages protesting the government, according to Newsweek.

Newsweek reported that Alisa Vox, a Russian pop star, appeared in the video published on YouTube earlier this month.

According to an English translation of the song, titled "Baby Boy," by The Moscow Times, it contains lyrics such as: “Freedom, money, girls — you’ll get it all, even power. So, kid, stay out of politics, and give your brain a shower.”

It also mocks students with “weak hands” who skip class to protest the Russian government.

The Russian website Meduza first reported that the President Vladimir Putin administration paid Vox for a song that would “take to task the anti-Kremlin opposition.” Newsweek notes that Meduza recently relocated its staff to Riga, Latvia, to avoid censorship by the Russian government.

The Moscow Times reported that Vox, a former singer for the Russian rock band Leningrad, told a Russian broadcaster that she has been “driven nuts” by questions about the government’s role in creating the video.

Vox said she wrote the song for “those who are being deceived and misled” by Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny.

The video has earned over a quarter million “dislikes” on YouTube.