December 02, 2024

Stop the Parties!


Stop the Parties!
Partygoers in Arma nightclub holding their hands behind their necks during the raids. Shot, Telegram

On November 30, while Muscovites were celebrating the end of the week, police forces and OMON raided three Moscow nightclubs as part of a "fight against LGBT propaganda." Dozens of people were detained and taken away in trucks.

At 1:30 AM, police broke into the club Mono. Then they forced attendees into paddy wagons and took them away. According to Ostorozhno, Novosty, the venue had hosted drag queens in the past, but no special events were happening the night of the raids. The club representatives said, "We are having a mask show!"

At 2:00 AM in Arma Club, formerly known as Mutabor, security forces forced partygoers to sit down on the floor and hold their hands behind their heads. A woman told MSK1.RU that women were let go early while men were thoroughly searched. Some attendees were forced to remain on the ground for up to three hours. The partygoers were interrogated about where they lived and worked and if they had consumed illegal substances. An unknown number of people were detained and sent for medical evaluations. Paddy wagons were spotted near the venue.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs for Moscow said that a club on Skladochnaya Street was "promoting LGBT ideology," but no authority has corroborated this. Equipment, weapons, and "other items relevant to making a procedural decision" were seized during the disco's inspection. The club also sold alcohol without a permit. It was later revealed that the venue was Inferno. Ita Cherkesova, a Moscow Deputy from the Communist Party, claimed Inferno held loud "trans parties." The rumor spread that the club Simach was also raided, but its representatives said the night proceeded as usual. 

Police raided the clubs in Moscow exactly a year after the nonexistent "International LGBT movement" was declared an extremist movement by the Russian Supreme Court. These incidents come just a few days after a raid on a queer nightclub in Voronezh.

You Might Also Like

Putin Still Popular
  • October 13, 2024

Putin Still Popular

Breaking News: A state-funded study finds Putin's public support is still high.
Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of Our Books

Tolstoy Bilingual

Tolstoy Bilingual

This compact, yet surprisingly broad look at the life and work of Tolstoy spans from one of his earliest stories to one of his last, looking at works that made him famous and others that made him notorious. 
At the Circus (bilingual)

At the Circus (bilingual)

This wonderful novella by Alexander Kuprin tells the story of the wrestler Arbuzov and his battle against a renowned American wrestler. Rich in detail and characterization, At the Circus brims with excitement and life. You can smell the sawdust in the big top, see the vivid and colorful characters, sense the tension build as Arbuzov readies to face off against the American.
93 Untranslatable Russian Words

93 Untranslatable Russian Words

Every language has concepts, ideas, words and idioms that are nearly impossible to translate into another language. This book looks at nearly 100 such Russian words and offers paths to their understanding and translation by way of examples from literature and everyday life. Difficult to translate words and concepts are introduced with dictionary definitions, then elucidated with citations from literature, speech and prose, helping the student of Russian comprehend the word/concept in context.
Maria's War: A Soldier's Autobiography

Maria's War: A Soldier's Autobiography

This astonishingly gripping autobiography by the founder of the Russian Women’s Death Battallion in World War I is an eye-opening documentary of life before, during and after the Bolshevik Revolution.
Woe From Wit (bilingual)

Woe From Wit (bilingual)

One of the most famous works of Russian literature, the four-act comedy in verse Woe from Wit skewers staid, nineteenth century Russian society, and it positively teems with “winged phrases” that are essential colloquialisms for students of Russian and Russian culture.
White Magic

White Magic

The thirteen tales in this volume – all written by Russian émigrés, writers who fled their native country in the early twentieth century – contain a fair dose of magic and mysticism, of terror and the supernatural. There are Petersburg revenants, grief-stricken avengers, Lithuanian vampires, flying skeletons, murders and duels, and even a ghostly Edgar Allen Poe.
Fish: A History of One Migration

Fish: A History of One Migration

This mesmerizing novel from one of Russia’s most important modern authors traces the life journey of a selfless Russian everywoman. In the wake of the Soviet breakup, inexorable forces drag Vera across the breadth of the Russian empire. Facing a relentless onslaught of human and social trials, she swims against the current of life, countering adversity and pain with compassion and hope, in many ways personifying Mother Russia’s torment and resilience amid the Soviet disintegration.
Chekhov Bilingual

Chekhov Bilingual

Some of Chekhov's most beloved stories, with English and accented Russian on facing pages throughout. 
Faith & Humor: Notes from Muscovy

Faith & Humor: Notes from Muscovy

A book that dares to explore the humanity of priests and pilgrims, saints and sinners, Faith & Humor has been both a runaway bestseller in Russia and the focus of heated controversy – as often happens when a thoughtful writer takes on sacred cows. The stories, aphorisms, anecdotes, dialogues and adventures in this volume comprise an encyclopedia of modern Russian Orthodoxy, and thereby of Russian life.
The Samovar Murders

The Samovar Murders

The murder of a poet is always more than a murder. When a famous writer is brutally stabbed on the campus of Moscow’s Lumumba University, the son of a recently deposed African president confesses, and the case assumes political implications that no one wants any part of.

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955