‘Almost Naked’ Party in Moscow angers Russian Conservatives

Tearful apologies, withdrawn sponsorship, canceled performances and two weeks in prison for wearing a sock on the genitals.

A growing crackdown on participants at an erotic celebrity party in Moscow underlines an accelerating conservative shift in a country where hedonism has long been tolerated in exchange 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 at 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 nude” and guests were given the freedom to interpret it as they saw fit.

The suggestive photos and videos that surfaced on social media soon after were unremarkable. Yet the backlash was immediate and severe.

“The country is at war, and these scum, the beasts, are leading this,” one of the country’s most prominent propagandists, Vladimir Solovyov, wrote on his Telegram channel hours after the event. “Cattle that don’t care about what happens.”

Some prominent conservatives went further and claimed, without providing evidence, that the party was a satanic ritual because, according to their calculations, it took place on the 666th day of the war in Ukraine.

“Stop trampling our hearts with your hooves,” music producer Vadim Tsyganov said in a video appearing with his wife Viktoria Tsyganova, a prominent Russian pop singer known for her religious and ultranationalist activism.

As conservative outrage mounted, police raided Mutabor on December 21. Shortly after the party, some celebrity attendees said they had lost sponsorship, had performances canceled and even removed from pre-recorded 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 to date has happened to 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 attending the party with only a sock on his genitals.

Aleksandr Baunov, an expert on Russian politics at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center in Berlin, said the crackdown underlines the contradictions in President Vladimir V. Putin’s wartime vision for the country.

Mr. Putin has sought to mobilize Russian society for what he presents as an existential and protracted conflict against the West in Ukraine. But he has also tried to maintain a sense of normalcy, especially in wealthier cities, and has largely allowed Russia’s elites to get 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 is one set of rules for ordinary citizens, and another for the elites.”

The ensuing scandal marked a clear victory for the country’s ultraconservatives, who have long pushed for Russian involvement in the war effort. The coordinated nature of the crackdown points to Putin’s immediate approval, Baunov said, and reflects the growing influence of ultraconservatives over the president.

Since invading Ukraine, Putin has also appealed to what he calls “traditional values” while trying to sell the world on an alternative ideological vision of the West. The invasion has been accompanied by a crackdown on gay rights and a growing call for restrictions on abortions, although Putin has publicly rejected restrictions on women’s reproductive rights.

At least six party participants have since issued public apologies, ranging from tearful pleas for forgiveness to unlikely apologies.

“There comes a time in every person’s life when he walks through the wrong door,” said one of Russia’s most prominent pop singers, Philipp Kirkorov, who attended the party in a glittering see-through jumpsuit and underwear.

After initially defending her event, Ms Ivleyeva, 32, has made two public apologies in videos posted to social media.

“They say Russia can forgive,” she said in her second video, which lasted 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 reporting contributed.