Almost Naked Party

The Almost Naked Party was an event held by Russian blogger and TV presenter Nastya Ivleeva in Moscow on 20-22 December 2023, attended by many Russian celebrities. The event was criticized by pro-Russian propagandists as allegedly promoting LGBTQ+ values and inappropriate while Russian soldiers are dying in the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian War. Many attendees publicly apologised for having attended. This was notable as those attended were generally supportive of the ruling regime under Vladimir Putin and had previously avoided criticism.

Event[edit]

The event was a Christmas dress-up ball held at Moscow's Mutabor nightclub^[1] on 20-22 December 2023.^[2] The suggested dress code for the party was to be "almost naked" and many attendees wore minimal clothing, with women in lingerie-themed outfits.

Russian rapper Vacio wore just training shoes plus a single sock on his genitals.^[3] Ivleeva spoke of wearing 23 million roubles worth of diamonds and emeralds in her outfit.^[4]

Attendees[edit]

Attendees included many celebrities who have stayed in Russia since the invasion of Ukraine and are broadly seen as being supportive of the Putin regime. They included:

• Nastya Ivleeva (organiser), TV presenter, actor and blogger^[3][5]
• Anna Asti, singer^[6]
• Dima Bilan, singer and actor^[3]
• Filipp Kirkorov, singer^[3][1]
• Lolita Milyavskaya, singer and actor^[6]
• Ksenia Sobchak, TV presenter and socialite, rumoured to be Putin's goddaughter^[1]
• Vacio (Nikolai Vasilyev), rapper^[3][1]

Criticism[edit]

Footage of the event spread on social media and led to criticism from pro-war commentators (including Vladimir Solovyov, a television propagandist^[1]), state officials, politicians and the Russian Orthodox Church.^[5] Vladimir Putin was reported to have been unhappy about the event^[5] and to have demanded punishments.^[4] The issue became a public scandal^[7] and dominated news reporting in Russia for several days.^[5]

Critics said the event was insulting to Russian soldiers fighting in Ukraine and that the event promoted LGBTQ+ values, illegal under Russian law. Soldiers in Ukraine were reported to have complained about the event.^[5]

Two days after the party, Vacio was sentenced to 15 days for "disorderly conduct"^[8][9] and fined 200,000 roubles for "promoting non-traditional sexual relations".^[4][3][1]

Tax authorities opened an investigation into Ivleeva. She is also facing a lawsuit from a group of individuals demanding she pay 1 billion roubles for "moral suffering" (with the money to go to Ukraine war veterans).^[5]

Many of the attendees were "cancelled", with advertising contracts ended and concerts cancelled.^[1] Ivleeva lost her contract with mobile phone operator MTS.^[5] She donated proceeds from the party to charity.^[10]

BBC News suggested that the criticism reflected a need for the Russian ruling class to generate scapegoats in the face of poor progress towards Russia’s war aims in Ukraine. Opposition activist Maxim Katz was quoted: "For the first time in a long time, the system has pushed back against those who supported all its rules, as long as they weren't applied to them."^[3] Pjotr Sauer writing in The Guardian described it as "one of the starkest examples to date of how Vladimir Putin is moving the country in a conservative and anti-liberal direction."^[1]

Response to criticism[edit]

Ivleeva, Kirkorov, Milyavskaya,^[6] Sobchak and others apologised on social media.^[3][4] Ivleeva released two apology videos.^[5][6] Bilan stressed that he was conservatively dressed and not responsible for how others dressed.^[3]

See also[edit]

• LGBT people in the Russo-Ukrainian War

References[edit]