MOSCOW, Dec 28 – A rapper who attended a celebrity party wearing only socks to hide his modesty has been jailed for 15 days, the sponsors of some of Russia’s top performers have had their contracts torn up, and President Vladimir Putin is reportedly not amused. .
A “bare-nude” party in a Moscow nightclub held at a time when Russia is embroiled in war with Ukraine and authorities are pushing an increasingly conservative social agenda, has sparked an unusually swift and strong backlash.
A video clip of Putin’s spokesman hearing an explanation from one of the stars in attendance has gone viral online. Baza, a news outlet known for its security service connections, has reported that soldiers fighting in Ukraine were among the first to complain after seeing the footage and photos of the event reached an unimpressed Putin.
Dmitry Peskov, Putin’s spokesman, on Wednesday asked reporters to forgive him for not commenting publicly on the developing scandal, saying: “Let you and I be the only ones in this country who do not discuss this topic.”
A Russian “barely naked” party led by a rapper was jailed for 15 days. via REUTERS
Maria Zakharova, spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, said that the event had “contaminated” those who took part, but they now had the opportunity to work on their own, according to the Ura.ru news channel.
A dramatic response from authorities, pro-Kremlin lawmakers and bloggers, state media, and Orthodox Church groups has dominated headlines for days, replacing stories about rising egg prices and allowing people to let loose by denouncing business elites. show. vice versa.
The party, at the Mutabor nightclub in Moscow, was organized by blogger Anastasia (Nastya) Ivleeva and was attended by well-known singers in underwear or wearing skimpy costumes that have been a staple of state TV entertainment programs for years.
Russian actress and blogger Anastasia Ivleeva hosted the party, AP
DOUBLE SORRY
Ivleeva, who has since become one of Russia’s most famous names, is seen in one clip showing off a 23 million ruble ($251,000) emerald-encrusted necklace on her back at a time when some Russians are struggling to survive.
Since then, he has released two public apology videos for the event that took place on Dec. 20-21.
In a second apology, issued on Wednesday, Ivleeva said she regretted her actions and deserved everything she got but hoped she could be given a “second chance.”
His name has since disappeared as one of the public faces of Russia’s main cellphone operator MTS, tax authorities have opened an investigation that carries a possible five-year prison sentence, and a Moscow court has received a lawsuit from a group of individuals demanding he pay 1 billion rubles ($10.9 million) for “moral distress.”
Russian blogger Anastasia (Nastya) Ivleeva poses with rapper GeeGun during an “almost nude” party at Mutabor nightclub in Moscow, Russia. via REUTERS
If successful, they want the money to go to a national fund that supports Ukrainian war veterans.
“To hold such an event at a time when our people are dying in special military operations (Ukraine) and many children have lost their fathers is something cynical,” said Yekaterina Mizulina, director of the Russian League for a Safe Internet, a body set up with the support of the authorities.
“Our soldiers on the front lines are certainly not fighting for this.”
Follow today’s most important news
Stay up to date with the Evening Update.
Many of the party’s prominent participants have issued apologies, including journalist Ksenia Sobchak whose late father Anatoly was once Putin’s friend and boss.
SOCIAL CONSERVATISM
The scandal comes as Putin, who is expected to comfortably win another six-year term in March elections, has doubled down on social conservatism, urging families to have eight or more children, and after Russia’s Supreme Court ruled that LGBT activists should be designated as “extremists.”
Nikolai Vasilyev, a rapper known as Vacio who attended wearing only socks to cover his privates, was jailed by a Moscow court for 15 days and fined 200,000 rubles ($2,182) for propagandizing “non-traditional sexual relations.”
Other more famous names have had their concerts and lucrative state TV airtime cancelled, contracts with sponsors cancelled, and, in at least one case, reportedly cut from new films.
The scandal has angered those who support Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Standing outside the Bolshoi Theater on Thursday, Nadezhda, a Moscow resident, told Reuters she was angry and thought those who took part should be punished and not shown on TV again.
“If you party at least don’t record it,” he said. “At a difficult time (for Russia), they should at least be ashamed. Aren’t they ashamed of the people who fought for us?”
Alexander, another Muscovite, said those present were not breaking any laws and were free to do as they pleased in private events.
But a woman who said her nephew had lost both legs in the battle wrote in a post to the League for a Safe Internet that the star had to pay for prosthetic legs for her brother and others to make up for it.
“That would be a better apology,” the unidentified woman wrote.
($1 = 91.6205 rubles)
Categories: Trending
Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
