‘Almost Naked’ Party in Moscow Angers Russian
Conservatives
Outrage over scantily clad socialites highlights the
growing contradictions of a society reshaped by the war in Ukraine.
Anatoly
Kurmanaev
By Anatoly
Kurmanaev
Dec. 28,
2023
Tearful
apologies, revoked sponsorships, canceled performances and two weeks in jail
for wearing a sock on the genitals.
A widening
crackdown on the participants in an erotic celebrity party in Moscow
underscores an accelerating conservative shift in a country where hedonism has
long been tolerated in return for the acceptance of shrinking political
freedoms.
The scandal
broke last week when a Russian TV presenter and blogger, Anastasia Ivleyeva,
hosted some of the country’s show business personalities at a private party in
the popular club Mutabor. Ms. Ivleyeva, who has 18 million Instagram followers,
said the event was the premiere of her photography project, originally
commissioned by the local branch of Playboy magazine.
She said
the dress code was “almost naked,” and that guests were given the freedom to
interpret that as they saw fit.
The
suggestive photos and videos that surfaced on social media soon after were
unremarkable. Yet the blowback was immediate and severe.
“The
country is at war, and these scum, beasts, are putting on this,” one of the
country’s most prominent propagandists, Vladimir Solovyov, wrote on his
Telegram channel hours after the event. “Cattle who don’t give a damn about
what’s happening.”
Some
prominent conservatives went further, claiming, without offering evidence, that
the party was a satanic ritual because it occurred, according to their
calculations, on the 666th day of the war in Ukraine.
“Stop
trampling on our hearts with your hoofs,” Vadim Tsyganov, a music producer,
said in a video, where he appeared with his wife, Viktoria Tsyganova, a
prominent Russian pop singer known for her religious and ultranationalist
activism.
As the
conservative outrage piled up, police raided Mutabor on Dec. 21. Soon after the
party, some celebrity participants said they had lost sponsorships, had
performances canceled and even had been edited out of prerecorded festive
television programs.
A prominent
Russian conservative activist, Ekaterina Mizulina, claimed that the country’s
tax authorities had opened an audit of Ms. Ivleyeva, and local news media
reported that another group of activists had sued her for millions of dollars.
Through a spokesperson, Ms. Ivleyeva declined to comment.
The biggest
punishment thus far has befallen a 25-year-old rapper, Nikolai Vasilyev, who
performs as Vacío. He was sentenced to 15 days in jail under the country’s new
anti-gay law for having attended the party wearing only a sock on his genitals.
Aleksandr
Baunov, a Russian politics expert at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center in
Berlin, said the crackdown underlines the contradictions in President Vladimir
V. Putin’s wartime vision of the country.
Mr. Putin
has attempted to mobilize Russian society for what he presents as an
existential and prolonged conflict against the West in Ukraine. But he has also
tried to maintain a sense of normalcy, particularly in the wealthier cities,
and he has allowed Russian elites to largely carry on with their lives as long
as they don’t question the war.
“This party
has exposed these double standards,” Mr. Baunov said. “It gave the impression
that there’s one set of rules for the common citizens, and another for the
elites.”
The ensuing
scandal handed a clear victory to the country’s ultraconservatives, who have
long called for Russians to be more involved with the war effort. The
coordinated nature of the crackdown points to Mr. Putin’s direct approval, Mr.
Baunov said, and reflects the growing influence of ultraconservatives with the
president.
Since
invading Ukraine, Mr. Putin has also amplified his appeals to what he calls
“traditional values,” as he has sought to sell the world on an alternative
ideological vision from the West. The invasion has been accompanied by a
crackdown on gay rights and growing calls for restrictions on abortions,
although Mr. Putin has publicly rejected limits on women’s reproductive rights.
At least
six attendees of the party have since issued public apologies, ranging from
teary pleas for forgiveness to unlikely excuses.
“In the
life of every person comes a moment when he walks through a wrong door,” said
one of Russia’s most prominent pop singers, Philipp Kirkorov, who attended the
party in a glittery see-through jumpsuit and underpants.
After
initially defending her event, Ms. Ivleyeva, 32, has made two public apologies
in videos posted on social media.
“They say
that Russia can forgive,” she said in her second video, which was 21 minutes.
“If this is true, I would very much like to ask for a second chance from you,
from the Russian people.”
Alina
Lobzina contributed reporting.
Anatoly
Kurmanaev is a foreign correspondent covering Russia’s transformation after its
invasion of Ukraine. More about Anatoly Kurmanaev
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