Russia’s ‘Doomsday Radio’ plays ‘Swan Lake’, dumps cryptic codes, speculations rise about the mysterious message and links to Ukraine war

UVB-76, Russia’s mysterious radio, became active again and began playing music from Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s ballet "Swan Lake." The radio station, which is also called Russia's Doomsday Radio or The Buzzer, played more tracks, including an old Soviet song but with an allegedly reworked song with altered lyrics to celebrate an attack on the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, according to Russian media.

Russia’s UVB-76 military radio station is known for stoking speculation and generating buzz by usually transmitting short encrypted messages during broadcasts.

In the latest incident, the track played during the broadcast, which seemed disturbing, was "The Bremen Town Musicians" with the lyrics "Nothing in the world is better than f**king hitting Kyiv with a rocket," according to Censor.net.


According to Mirror, there was something strange about the broadcast. The traditional “buzzing” sound on the station was still audible under the Swan Lake song, but listeners could also make out muffled voices underneath the music. The apparently unusual overlapping sounds fueled speculations, with many suggesting that the frequency may have been hacked.

Why is music on Doomsday Radio a notable event?

Music on Doomsday Radio is rare, and it has reportedly happened only three times in the station’s history. Russian media claims that music was heard in 2024 and in February 2022. Russian commenters have claimed that Swan Lake has played in Russia in the past when "something bad" was about to happen or during a political crisis, Mirror reported.

Swan Lake ballet was aired on loop by state TV during the 1991 coup attempt against Gorbachev, suggesting a leadership vacuum, instability, and impending change. The ballet ended up becoming an influential symbol for the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Mirror reported that posts from pro-Russia accounts have spread unconfirmed messages that, in this case, the song is linked to a major retaliation on Kyiv by Russian forces.

The latest development related to Russia's Doomsday Radio comes days after Moscow accused Kyiv of trying to strike a presidential residence in northern Russia, Reuters reported.

The allegation has been dismissed by Ukrainian leaders as a lie aimed at ‍allowing Moscow to continue the war in Ukraine. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Monday (December 29, 2025) accused Ukraine of attacking a presidential residence in the Novgorod region overnight with 91 ⁠long-range attack drones and said Russia would retaliate.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy dismissed ‌the Russian accusations as "another ‌round of lies" aimed at justifying additional attacks on Ukraine and prolonging the war underway since President Vladimir Putin sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022.

"This alleged 'residence strike' story is a complete fabrication intended to justify ‌additional attacks against Ukraine, including Kyiv, as well as Russia’s own refusal to take necessary steps to end the war. Typical Russian lies," he said.

Russia’s UVB-76 military radio

Known for transmitting short encrypted messages, strings of letters while broadcasting a monotonous buzzing majority of the time, Russia’s UVB-76 military radio station has been on air since the 1970s on 4,625 kHz, according to reports.

The latest case is not the first in 2025 that caught the attention and prompted speculations. The Doomsday Radio has already played four cryptic words—Neptune, Thymus, Foxcloak, and Nootabu—this year. In May 2025, UVB-76 broadcast the code 'NZhTI 89905 BLEFOPUF 4097 5573' ahead of a phone call between President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart, Donald Trump.

On December 8 and 10, multiple 'code' words were heard featuring the code words 'PEPPER SHAKER', 'TRANSFER', 'PABODOLL', 'SPINOBAZ', 'FRIGORIA', 'OPALNY', 'SNOPOVY', and 'MYUONOSVOD'. Experts are still unable to decipher them, and their meaning remains unknown.