Celebrities apologise to Putin for racy party
‘Almost naked’ event at Moscow nightclub enrages public facing austerity to pay for war in Ukraine
RUSSIAN celebrities and socialites have been forced to make grovelling public apologies after their “almost naked” Christmas party fell foul of Vladimir Putin’s crackdown on decadence and gay rights.
The television stars and singers have lost lucrative film and concert appearance bookings since they were filmed partying in the run-up to Christmas in lingerie and drag.
Their party at a Moscow nightclub triggered outrage among conservatives and traditionalists, who have become increasingly influential in Putin’s Russia. Officials have now closed the party venue and opened an investigation into the party organiser Anastasia Ivleeva, a 32-year-old Instagram star, for suspected tax evasion of 130 million roubles (£1.1 million).
“They say that Russia knows how to forgive. If this is true, I would really like to ask you, the people, for a second chance,” Ms Ivleeva said in a teary video.
Putin has made promoting traditional Slavic family values and banning gay rights central to his presidency, and prosecutors are considering charging Ms Ivleeva with “promoting homosexuality”. She is also suspected of posting social media comments against the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine.
Public anger is focused on the decadence of the party, which countered the Kremlin’s insistence on buttoned-up austerity in Russia to support the war.
The party-goers had photographed themselves wearing mesh tops, lingerie and Bdsm-style props as they danced, swaggered and drank through the night.
One Russian rapper arrived wearing only a sock over his penis. Vicio, his stage name, was subsequently jailed for 15 days on charges of hooliganism and fined 200,000 roubles (£1,700) for “gay propaganda”.
On one of his nightly talk shows on Russian TV, Vladimir Solovyov, the Kremlin propagandist, described the socialites who attended the party as “traitors” who party “while our guys on the frontline are dying”. For ordinary Russians who have seen their living standards drop because of the war and thousands of men mobilised to the front line, the “almost naked” party was proof that the Moscow elite have been sheltered from the worst impacts of the war.
Many of the comments under Ms Ivleeva’s video apology on the Telegram social messaging site called on her to go to occupied Donbas in Ukraine to entertain Russian soldiers.
Ekaterina Mizulina, the pro-war Kremlin pin-up of aspirational middle-class Russia, called for a boycott against celebrities who were at the party. “Our soldiers at the front definitely aren’t fighting for this,” she said. “These raves are like firing a bullet into the foot of an entire policy implemented by the state.”
Ramzan Kadyrov, Chechnya’s prowar leader, suggested that people who attended the “satanic” party should be sent to the Russian special forces school in Chechnya. “There is nothing wrong with helping to organise their training, in the dining room, in the laundry room, in the first aid post,” he said.
Celebrities photographed at the party included the pop singers Dima Bilan and Filip Kirkorov, and the journalist Ksenia Sobchak.
A video on Telegram showed Mr Bilan, winner of the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest, explaining to Dmitry
Peskov, the Kremlin’s spokesman, that despite going to the party, he fully supported Putin’s war in Ukraine.
But Baza, a Telegram channel linked to Russia’s FSB security forces, said that all celebrities photographed at the party were likely to face “big problems” after Putin was told that the videos had upset Russian soldiers.
Since he invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Putin has reoriented Russia’s economy and society towards supporting his war.
‘These raves are like firing a bullet into the foot of an entire policy of the state’