The ‘goddaughter’ of Vladimir Putin has been forced into a humbling apology for taking part in a ‘debauched almost naked high society party’ that shocked Russia’s frontline soldiers.
TV star, media owner, former Playboy model and ex-presidential election candidate Ksenia Sobchak, 42, is one of a gaggle of celebrities ordered by the Kremlin regime to say sorry after attending a Moscow party shut down by police last week.
Many believe attendees face fines, jail or official ostracisation if they fail to express deep remorse for the two-day event at the Mutabor night club, reportedly priced at £11,000 a ticket, on December 20-21.
Russian outlets claimed nude images were projected onto walls and same-sex couples kissed at party before civilians reported the party to the authorities, accusing participants of breaking Russia’s draconian LGBTQ+ ‘propaganda’ laws and not adhering to ‘traditional values’.
A new class action lawsuit means they could now be fined huge sums – up to £8.5 million – which will be sent to support Putin’s fighters in Ukraine.
Ksenia Sobchak at the ‘Almost Naked’ party in Moscow, Russia, 20 December 2023
President Vladimir Putin meets Ksenia Sobchak at the Kremlin in 2020. She is known as Putin’s goddaughter after he attended her baptism
Ksenia Sobchak (pictured), 40, a TV presenter and ‘liberal’ Russian presidential candidate in 2018, donned a nude-coloured Sorelle outfit
Sobchak, 42, apologised in a video shared online, saying she did not mean to cause offence
Ms Sobchak – who’s childhood Orthodox baptism was attended by Putin long before he was president – said: ‘I can tell you that for myself, and my friends, I definitely did not want to offend anyone.
‘If anyone was offended by my appearance, I apologise for this. I love my country, I am a journalist who works in Russia.
Ksenia Sobchak on the cover of Russian Playboy
‘And I want everyone to know that I do not want to cause this feeling of hatred and anger towards me or other artists because of such stupid accidents.’
She appeared braless at the party in a nude-coloured Sorelle outfit.
Earlier Sobchak had dismissed the need to say sorry. She had said: ‘Where and when grown-ups go with a bare bum is their own business.
‘The world isn’t fair – it always has been this way, is and always will be.
‘Somewhere people are being killed, somewhere children are starving, and somewhere else [people are] drinking champagne at the same time. No mourning can last forever.’
One reveller – Rapper Vacio, 25, real name Nikolai Vasilyev, who provoked outrage by wearing nothing but a Balenciaga sock on his manhood – is already jailed for 15 days and fined £1,710 for petty hooliganism and ‘gay propaganda’.
This was despite his pleas of apology: ‘I apologise for offending the feelings of other people and being a participant in such a terrible video at such a difficult time for our country [due to the war],’ he said.
Another – party organiser Nastya Ivleeva, 32, an influencer, TV presenter, socialite and ex-editor-in-chief of Playboy Russia – admitted the event was ‘completely inappropriate’ amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
At the hedonistic party she had boasted of wearing £200,000 [23 million roubles] diamonds and emeralds on her backside.
Amid the backlash she rushed to take down anti-war online posts and now says: ‘I am sorry it happened, and that it was impossible to control it.’
The celebrities have been strong-armed into apologising by top Putin aide, Dmitry Peskov, it is believed.
Singer Philipp Kirkorov, 56, said sorry personally to Peskov.
Former Eurovision contestant Dima Bilan, 42, said: ‘ I perfectly understand the indignation of our people, and even more so of our guys who protect us on the front line.’
Russia’s conservative voices took aim at the party’s attendees, saying the behaviour was inappropriate while Russia was at war.
One angry mobile soldier recorded a diatribe against Putin over the ‘party freaks’ including his goddaughter Sobchak.
‘When we are fighting here, when we are rotting in the trenches, they have 23 million rouble [£200,000] jewellery on their arse and they brag about it,’ he raged.
Vladimir Putin’s goddaughter Ksenia Sobchak is pictured at the ‘Almost Naked’ party in Moscow yesterday
The party – dress code ‘almost naked’ – was arranged by fashionable blogger and socialite Nastya Ivleeva (pictured), 32, a TV presenter and actress
Many complained that the party came as Putin has put the accent on Russia fighting for traditional values yet it showed degeneracy
Ekaterina Mizulina, member of the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation, said: ‘Our soldiers at the front are definitely not fighting for this.’
Frothing TV propagandist Vladimir Solovyov stormed: ‘How morally deaf do you have to be?
‘Our boys are now fighting at the front.
‘To what extent should you understand nothing at all about the country, about Putin?
‘The Supreme Commander-in-Chief raises a glass to our Victory, and you b******s – who do you support?
‘You cannot even imagine how people hate and despise you.’