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RIGA, Latvia — A raunchy celebrity-filled party in Moscow has drawn the ire of Russian politicians and fervent Christian Orthodox activists who are urging law enforcement to punish the event’s guests and organizers for violating laws prohibiting “gay propaganda” — the latest testament to the country’s sharp shift toward a closed-off, conservative society at the behest of President Vladimir Putin.
The party, a costume ball with a “nude illusion” theme hosted Wednesday night by one of Russia’s most popular Instagram influencers, Anastasia Ivleeva, was attended by some of the most prominent Russian celebrities who have remained in the country since the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, including some who have not supported the war.
The guests paid a hefty entrance fee of about $11,000 to frolic in outfits of flesh-colored mesh, lace and lingerie, with Ivleeva wearing a diamond body chain worth about $250,000 and one guest, the rapper Vacio, paying homage to a 1987 Red Hot Chili Peppers record cover featuring the band members wearing nothing but a sock.
On Thursday, the hostess woke up to a barrage of angry statements from officials and activists accusing her of violating restrictive Russian laws that criminalize “public expressions of non-heterosexual orientations” and of being tone-deaf for hosting a lavish party while Russian soldiers continue to attack and die in Ukraine.
The critics urged the authorities to revoke her promotion deal with a national phone carrier, impose hefty fines and launch an investigation into her finances.
“There is a war going on in the country, but these beasts, scum are organizing all this, these brutes who don’t care what’s going on,” one of the leading state television propagandists, Vladimir Solovyov, said in a Telegram post.
A pro-war Telegram channel called Two Majors posted: “These freaks behave this way because the war is somewhere very far away for them.”
The criticism marks a departure from the early war mood of senior Russian officials who tried to assure people the invasion would not affect their daily lives and was bound to deliver a quick victory.
Now as the brutal and grinding war nears its two-year mark, with Russian casualties estimated at more than 300,000 killed or wounded, the public seems to be facing a new demand. Rather than continuing life with permissive indifference, there is pressure to display solemn patriotism in support of what Putin has billed as a near-sacred war for Russia’s existence.
Yekaterina Mizulina, who leads an activist group that seeks to heavily censor Russian internet sites, slammed the party as “a shot in the foot to the entire policy of our state.”
She is the daughter of a firebrand, pro-Putin politician, Yelena Mizulina, who wrote a set of repressive anti-LGBT laws in Russia.
“Our soldiers at the front are definitely not fighting for this,” the younger Mizulina said, adding that she is calling for a “government-level boycott” of the party’s organizers and attendees. “I am absolutely sure of this, having recently talked with wounded soldiers.”
Sorok Sorokov, a radical Orthodox Christian group, said the party was “a feast during the war, which discriminates against the entire government on the eve of the presidential elections.”
Another group with similar views, named Call of the People, sent a request to the prosecutor general’s office demanding a criminal investigation into the alleged violation of a recently expanded anti-LGBT law. In its request, the group said that “kissing men were seen among the guests, and the presence of drugs and underage persons cannot be excluded.”
The group added: “It had everything from outright LGBT propaganda and debauchery to open drunkenness and use of illegal substances.”
A year ago, Putin signed a law making it illegal to promote or “praise” same-sex relationships, to publicly express non-heterosexual orientations, or to suggest that such orientations are “normal.”
In his past two terms as president, Putin has called for “traditional values” to be the cornerstone of Russian society, and he has tightened relations between the Kremlin and the Russian Orthodox Church, portraying them as a bulwark against the liberal, decadent, LBGT and gender rights-supporting West.
Some lawmakers called for punishing artists who attended the party Wednesday by banning them from performing during the holiday season, which could cost some millions in revenue. The Russian arts and entertainment industry has experienced a severe crackdown in recent years, with authorities forcing venue owners to ban artists who refuse to pledge loyalty to the Kremlin.
Iveleeva, the host of the party, hit back at the critics. “It was worth it, and I love that after my every party people write comments that this is debauchery, some kind of demonism and Satanism, even though its just people wearing beautiful costumes,” she wrote in a since-deleted Telegram post.
Others openly defended the event. “Where and when adults go with their butts naked is their personal business,” Ksenia Sobchak, a socialite, television presenter and former presidential candidate, wrote in a post Thursday.
The scandal is the latest example of Russian politicians and commentators trying to score points with the Kremlin as the country heads toward a March 2024 presidential election, which Putin is certain to win.
This week, a Russian court fined a television channel $11,000 for spreading “LGBT propaganda” after it aired a decade-old music featuring singer Nikolai Baskov as a Roman emperor-type ruler attending a bacchanal.
The judge ruled that “the lyrical hero,” portrayed by the singer, expressed “communicative signs of a romantic interpersonal relationship” with another man and his kiss with a female protagonist was not passionate enough.
“It is worth noting that the interaction of the lyrical hero with a female person is predominantly of a detached, contemplative nature,” the judge said, according to Russian news outlet Verstka. “The jealousy of the lyrical hero was aimed not toward the female character, but toward a male character who cheated on the hero with that female.”
correction
A previous version of this article incorrectly dated a Red Hot Chili Peppers record cover, featuring the band members wearing nothing but a sock, to 1980. The record, “Fight Like a Brave,” came out in 1987. The article has been corrected.
