A host of Russian celebrities who turned up scantily clad at an \u201calmost naked\u201d themed party in Moscow are facing fierce backlash at a time when the country is at war in Ukraine and the authorities are pushing an increasingly conservative agenda. <\/p>\n
The party, hosted by blogger\u00a0Anastasia Ivleeva\u00a0on December 20-21 at the\u00a0Mutabor club in the capital, drew criticism from Orthodox\u00a0Church officials and pro-war activists, as well as pro-Kremlin lawmakers. <\/p>\n
One of the attendees, rapper\u00a0Vacio (Nikolay Vasilyev), who showed up wearing a sock to cover his genitals, has been sentenced to 15 days in jail and fined 200,000 rubles (roughly $2,200) after a Moscow court ruled the event was aimed at \u201cpropagating non-traditional sexual relationships.\u201d <\/p>\n
Vasilyev was found guilty of offenses including \u201cpetty hooliganism.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cNikolay Vasilyev (better known as rapper Vacio) participated in a party at the \u2018Mutabor\u2019 nightclub, disrupted public order, used vulgar language, and disseminated publications in Telegram channels aimed at promoting non-traditional sexual relationships in mass media on the internet,\u201d the court ruling said. <\/p>\n
In recent years, the Kremlin has expanded a raft of anti-LGBTQ laws, a conservative shift that has intensified following the invasion of Ukraine. Last month, Russia\u2019s Supreme Court declared the\u00a0\u201cinternational LGBTQ movement\u201d an extremist organization. <\/p>\n
The backlash against the party in Moscow comes as Russian President Vladimir Putin is increasingly focused on traditional values as opposed to what he has portrayed as the decadence and immorality of the West as he seeks reelection in March 2024. <\/p>\n
Vasilyev is among those who attended the party to issue a public apology. <\/p>\n
Organizer Ivleeva initially said the partygoers dress choices were their own, and claimed the event was a chance to showcase photos made during her tenure as the chief editor of the Russian edition of Playboy. <\/p>\n
On Wednesday, Ivleeva released a new video lasting over 21 minutes where she tearfully apologized, seeking forgiveness and a second chance, or public condemnation. <\/p>\n
A lawsuit seeking compensation of 1 billion rubles ($11 million) for moral damages was filed on Tuesday against Ivleeva for organizing the party, state news agency RIA Novosti reported. <\/p>\n
One of the other attendees, pop star Anna Asti, had a New Year\u2019s event at another club in Moscow cancelled, the venue said on its website. <\/p>\n
\u201cDear friends, due to reasons beyond our control, the performance of Anna Asti has been rescheduled to a new date, which we will announce soon,\u201d the message said. <\/p>\n
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to comment on Wednesday, stating: \u201cRegarding this party, I ask for your mercy: let\u2019s stay the only ones in the country not discussing this topic.\u201d <\/p>\n
An outspoken pro-war activist and Head of the Safe Internet League, Ekaterina Mizulina, thanked Russian police on Wednesday for their response, and shared Telegram screenshots of messages allegedly from concerned and outraged citizens. <\/p>\n
\u201cHow do I explain to my nephew, who, while participating in a special operation, lost both legs and became disabled, what he fought for, and why he ended up disabled, for Ivleeva\u2019s underwear?\u201d one of the messages read, referring to the official Russian euphemism for its invasion of Ukraine. <\/p>\n
\u201cTo host such events at a time when our young people are perishing in the military operations and many children are losing their fathers is cynical,\u201d said Mizulina in her own post. \u201cOur fighters on the front lines are certainly not fighting for this.\u201d <\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Vitaly Borodin, head of the Federal Project for Security and Anti-Corruption, expressed outrage, calling the event \u201csodomy, obscurantism, and LGBT propaganda,\u201d urging the Minister of Internal Affairs to send police to the Mutabor nightclub. <\/p>\n\n
A host of Russian celebrities who turned up scantily clad at an \u201calmost naked\u201d themed party in Moscow are facing fierce backlash at a time when the country is at war in Ukraine and the authorities are pushing an increasingly conservative agenda. The party, hosted by blogger\u00a0Anastasia Ivleeva\u00a0on December 20-21 at the\u00a0Mutabor club in the <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":13365,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-13364","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13364","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13364"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13364\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13365"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13364"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13364"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13364"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}