The mega nightclub “Mutabor”, renowned for its techno evenings, will no longer welcome – temporarily – the usual upscale clientele who move around happily drinking overpriced cocktails. And for good reason ! The place was sealed on Wednesday December 27. The official reason? During an administrative inspection, officials discovered “certain alcoholic products […] sold without a license”. They also noted “violations of health standards”, reports the Izvestia media. But it is impossible for such a sanction to have fallen unrelated to the drunken evening of December 20 where guests were invited to respect the “almost naked” dress code. Among the images circulating on social networks: men in fishnet stockings, women in transparent underwear or even a partygoer miming fellatio to a man wearing a simple Balenciaga sock covering his penis.
This private event, organized by Russian TV presenter and influencer Nastya Ivleïeva, welcomed several Russian showbiz personalities, such as singers Philip Kirkorov, Lolita Milyavskaya, Dima Bilan and GeeGun or even the bling-bling journalist Ksenia Sotchak – the daughter of the late Anatoly Sobchak, the mayor of Saint Petersburg of whom Vladimir Putin was the foal. After having paid their entry ticket at an exorbitant price, these stars shared photos on social networks where we see them naked and tipsy in an assumed trashy atmosphere.
“The war is very far away for them”
The “naked party”, now known throughout the country, first made the front pages of the tabloids. Then, the affair took a political turn by arousing the anger of pro-Kremlin bloggers active on Telegram, who are called the “Z community”. The latter protests against this decadent Moscow elite, who are partying in Moscow at a time when others are dying on the front in Ukraine in Putin’s “special military operation”. “Our soldiers at the front do not fight for that Russia,” writing propagandist Yury Podyaka. The military channel “Two majors” critical in these terms the depravity of the Moscow revelers: “For these monsters, the war is very far away”.
“It seems that as yet no events on the front, […] “Not even the capture of Bakhmout or the mutiny and death of Yevgeny Prigozhin caused such acute emotions in the Z community as the “naked party” organized by Nastya Ivleyeva in Moscow. summary Ivan Filippov, observer of the evolution of propaganda channels on Telegram.
Several complaints were made against the celebrities present at the famous evening. Far-right activists scream at the moral decadence of their “beautiful Russia” and demand severe punishments against those present. Others see it as a downright promotion of homosexuality, like lawyer Vitaly Borodin, based in the Moscow region. “This is real sodomy, obscurantism, LGBT propaganda. […] They all have children, what do they show them, what example do they set? The real LGBT people are there,” he says indignantly.
“LGBT propaganda”
The fact is that the Mutabor evening took place in a country obsessed with the anti-LGBT fight. At the beginning of December, the Supreme Court classified the “International LGBT Movement” as terrorist, and it does not matter if such a movement has no legal existence, neither in Russia nor elsewhere. “Promoting” the community has also become punishable by ten years of imprisonment… MP Maria Butina (arrested in the United States by the FBI in 2018 and expelled due to her espionage activities) thus asked the Ministry of the Interior, Roskomnadzor (media supervisory body, Editor’s note) and the Ministry of Culture to check whether the event complied with the “ban on LGBT propaganda”. According to her, the “almost naked evening” contravenes the 2022 presidential decree on the preservation and strengthening of “traditional spiritual and moral values of Russia.”
Recent homophobic legislation has already claimed one victim: rapper Vacio. He is the one who appears in the videos wearing a simple sock on his penis. He was sentenced to 15 days in prison for “disturbing public order” and fined 200,000 rubles (2,000 euros) for “promoting non-traditional sexual relations”.
State media carefully omit mentioning the presence of people close to power at the evening potchti goliy (almost naked). Among them: Ksenia Chilingarova, daughter of MP Artur Chilingarov and Olga Karput, the wife of Pavel Tïo, a major investor close to Sergei Sobyanin; the mayor of Moscow. On television, the commentators are delighted. The opportunity is too good to lynch the cultural elite caught in the act of amorality. In the viewfinder: the journalist Ksenia Sobchak, bling-bling heiress to the ex-mayor of Saint Petersburg or the very popular singer Philipp Kirkorov, a bit provocative with his “gender fluid” outfits, which crystallizes growing Russian homophobia.
Apology Videos
Like around ten other personalities, the latter two published apology videos. On their social networks, they ask for forgiveness to the Russian people and promising to make amends. “I realize the mistake I made,” Philip Kirkorov admits pitifully. “A People’s Artist of Russia is obliged to pay more attention to the events in which he participates,” he says to the camera before concluding: “I ‘love my homeland, and no one will forbid me from doing so.’ Same hypocritical speech for Ksenia Sobchak: “I love my country. I am a journalist who works in Russia, and I want everyone to know that I do not want to provoke this feeling of hatred and anger towards me or others artists because of such a stupid accident.”
The pet peeve of this controversy, however, remains the organizer Nastya Ivleeva who apologized twice in two different videos, the second in tears. To redeem herself, she promises to donate the profits from the party to charity. She is also the subject of legal action for tax fraud, and could be ordered to pay 1 billion rubles (100,000 euros).
The staging of their apologies reflects the fear for its artists and personalities of losing their reputation, and of no longer being invited to perform on the Russian stage. Already several of them have seen their participation in New Year’s TV shows canceled. “The country has not seen this since the 1930s,” says political blogger Dimitri Kolezev, referring to the forced confessions during the Stalinist trials. Even for the Moscow jet set, the party is well and truly over.