A rapper who attended a celebrity party wearing only a sock to hide his private parts was arrested for 15 days, sponsors of some of Russia's bestknown artists canceled their contracts and Russian President Vladimir Putin was reportedly absent from the event satisfied.
A “halfnaked” party at a Moscow nightclub, held at a time when Russia was embroiled in a war with Ukraine and authorities promoted an increasingly conservative social agenda, sparked an unusual, swift and violent reaction.
A video clip is circulating on the Internet in which Putin's spokesman listens to a statement by one of the stars in attendance. Baza, a media outlet known for its contacts with the security services, reported that troops fighting in Ukraine were among the first to complain after seeing the images and that photos of the event reached Putin, leaving him disappointed .
Dmitry Peskov, Putin's spokesman, asked journalists for forgiveness on Wednesday for not speaking publicly about the growing scandal, saying: “Let's just let you and me be the only ones in the country who don't discuss this issue.”
Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, told the Ura.ru news agency that the event had “tarnished” the participants but that they now had the opportunity to work on themselves.
The strong reaction from authorities, proKremlin lawmakers and bloggers, the state press and Orthodox church groups has dominated headlines for days, pushing aside stories about rising egg prices and instead allowing people to vent their protests against the country's show business elite.
The party at Moscow's Mutabor nightclub was organized by blogger Anastasia (Nastya) Ivleeva and attended by wellknown singers who have been a fixture on state television entertainment programs for years in underwear or skimpy outfits.
Ivleeva, who has now become one of Russia's most recognizable names, is seen in a clip with an emeraldstudded necklace on her back worth 23 million rubles ($251,000), at a time when some Russians fight for survival.
She has since released two public videos apologizing for the event, which took place between December 20th and 21st.
In a second tearful apology released Wednesday, Ivleeva said she regretted her actions and deserved everything she received, but hoped she could be given “a second chance.”
Since then, his name has disappeared as one of the public faces of the major Russian mobile operator MTS, tax authorities have opened an investigation that could result in a fiveyear prison sentence, and a Moscow court has accepted a lawsuit from a group of individuals demanding that they pay $1 billion rubles ($10.9 million) for “moral suffering.”
If successful, the group wants to put the money into a sovereign wealth fund that supports Ukrainian war veterans.
The scandal comes at a time when Putin, who is expected to win another sixyear term in March elections, has tightened his social conservatism, pushing families to have eight or more children, and after Russia's Supreme Court has decided that LGBT activists should be referred to as “extremists.”
Nikolai Vasilyev, a rapper known as Vacio who apparently wore only a sock to cover his penis, was sentenced by a Moscow court to 15 days in prison and a fine of 200,000 rubles ($2,182) for “not “traditional sexual relationships”.
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