A party in an exclusive Moscow club, most of the famous guests and a chance to show off your figure. Nothing had to go wrong and take the joy out of the attendees before the new year. But the initial idea of the organizer, the influencer and TV presenter Anastàssia Ivleeva, has caused scandal and reaction among the conservative Russian bureaucracy, hailed by nationalistic wartime patriotism.
Ivleeva told her guests that it was necessary to attend "almost naked". They accepted artists who have stayed in Russia after Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his military campaign against Ukraine in February 2022. Many behaved like good guests and obeyed the curious dress code, but this has caused them quite a few problems during the last week.
Shortly after the celebration began, on December 21, the attendees themselves shared their photographs in dresses and semi-transparent dresses on social networks. One of them, the rapper Vacio (pseudonym of Nikolai Vassiliev), arrived dressed only in a sock that covered his genitals.
The reaction was not long in coming. "There is a war in the country, but these beasts and scum are organizing all this, these brutes who do not care about what is happening," said Vladimir Solovyov, the first propagandist of Russian television, on Telegram. Several conservative and anti-liberal MPs, as well as social movements, addressed the Prosecutor's Office asking for an investigation into LGTB propaganda.
Russia's authorities have presented themselves in recent decades as a bastion of traditional values vis-à-vis the West. Last year Russia banned the propaganda of “non-traditional relationships, pedophilia and sex change” among the entire population, toughening the 2013 law, and last month the Supreme Court declared “extremist” the “ international social movement LGTB".
Many stars present have had their concerts cancelled. The singer Lolita Miliàvskaia told the newspaper RBK that she is being "excluded from television programs". The withdrawal of advertising will also cause them serious financial damage. Faced with these threats, they have recorded apology videos this week, in some cases defending their "patriotism".
Ivleeva has released two recordings. He said he was aware of the "very difficult time" that Russia is experiencing and asked for a "second chance".
The king of pop Filipp Kirkórov admitted that he had "made a mistake", but assured that he did not know "the nature of the events" that happened at the party and that he left there "in five minutes". According to him, "in these difficult times, heroic moments, a village artist behaves irresponsibly if he participates in any event". He added that he is an artist and a patriot. "What I would least like is for a distraction on my part to be the cause of the restriction of my creativity in Russia," he stressed.
Dima Bilán, the only Russian winner of Eurovision, has also assured that he left after a few minutes. Although he knew the dress code, he said he arrived at the party in a turtleneck, a cape and trousers, which he received an invitation to an art exhibition.
The journalist Ksenia Sobchak, daughter of the former mayor of St. Petersburg Anatoly Sobchak, mentor and promoter of Putin's political career, also apologized. But in his video he pointed out that "where and when grown people walk with bare bottoms is a personal matter". He apologized to anyone who might have been hurt and said that "I love my country".
For now, justice has come to one of the guests. Rapper Vacio was sentenced on Wednesday to 15 days in prison and a fine of 200,000 rubles (2,000 euros) for minor vandalism and homosexual propaganda. Vassiliev said his intention was to "surprise" the audience by copying an image of the Red Hot Chili Peppers onto the sock covering his penis to reproduce their 1987 album cover.
A similar path can be taken by the party organizer. The Russian Treasury has begun investigating Ivleeva's accounts. Inspectors believe that between 2020 and 2022 he evaded taxes worth 130 million rubles (1.3 million euros). According to the Russian press, this could potentially earn him five years in prison.
