Vladimir Putin was at a striptease show at a club in St. Petersburg during the Chechen war: “He drank vodka, danced, left a generous tip”

Russian politicians and pro-Kremlin media harshly criticized the “naked party” in Moscow last month, and celebrities who attended apologized for the event not being appropriate at the time of the “special operation in Ukraine.” However, during another war, Vladimir Putin enjoyed a similar party at the Luna strip club in St. Petersburg, Radio Svoboda reports.

In 1999, the Russian Federation was facing the Second Chechen War. In July, President Boris Yeltsin appointed Vladimir Putin, a KGB veteran, to head the FSB security service. Two weeks later he appointed him prime minister.

Putin took harsh measures against Chechen independence fighters, which earned him popularity among many Russians.

It launched a large-scale military operation beginning on 26 August 1999 in response to the invasion of Dagestan by the International Islamic Peacekeeping Brigade.

On October 1, Russian troops entered Chechnya. During the first campaign, Russian military and pro-Russian Chechen paramilitary formations clashed openly with Chechen separatist forces and occupied Chechnya’s capital, Grozny, after a winter that lasted from late 1999 to February 2000. Russia established direct control over Chechnya in May 2000.

The exact death toll from this conflict is unknown. Unofficial estimates range from 25,000 to 50,000 dead or missing, mostly civilians in Chechnya. Russian losses exceed 5,200, the official figure for Russian losses, and are around 11,000, according to the Committee of Soldiers’ Mothers.

In the context of the Chechen war, a week before New Year’s Eve and Boris Yeltsin’s resignation in December 1999, Prime Minister Putin and his ministers were dealing with something quite different from the brutal siege and bombing of the Chechen capital.

They were in St. Petersburg. at a famous erotic club, “Luna”, as revealed by the investigative newspaper Nezavismaia Gazeta. As of December 31, 2023, the article was available on the website. 

“On December 25, 1999, around 7 p.m., members of the security service of the President of the Russian Federation surrounded the Luna nightclub in St. Petersburg. They took all premises, entrances and exits under protection and restricted traffic on Voznesenské Prospekt.  They put a guard in the kitchen, checked the quality certificates of food, non-alcoholic and alcoholic beverages”, wrote NG. in 2002, when Putin was already president, but conditions in Russia were still relatively free.

Luna is one of the elite entertainment and erotic clubs in St. Petersburg, a city nicknamed the “Venice of the North”, It occupies two floors of a stylish building, in two halls with dark blue walls, mahogany mesh on which candles are lit and red velvet armchairs”, described the newspaper the atmosphere of the establishment, which was visited by the cultural and business elite of St. Petersburg, where Putin was deputy mayor.

The main attraction was the “fascinating dance of snake women”, “whose breasts were exposed in abundance” in front of “bulls at the tables”, the newspaper described.

“Vladimir Vladimirovich came to us accompanied by several ministers. They stood on the second floor, right in front of the stage,” Gennady Ozerov, CEO of Luna, told Express Gazeta.

Although Putin presents himself as a sober man, he reportedly drank vodka and danced. “I caught his attention,” dancer Oksana recalled to NG, who revealed that the prime minister also left a generous tip. 

“Of course, they sent the prettiest girl in our band to him to get an autograph, so the distinguished guest couldn’t turn her down.” He added to the autograph a wish of happiness in the new millennium/

The strip club even had a plaque with Putin’s signature, Carl Schreck of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty said on Twitter.

According to his editors, the signature corresponds to how Putin signs official documents. The plaque remained in place until at least 2003. 

The strip club even had a plaque with Putin’s signature, and the erotic show he attended had “everything,” according to a contemporaneous newspaper report. https://t.co/RMwip6sOat pic.twitter.com/4abmBsrmgf

— Carl Schreck (@CarlSchreck) December 29, 2023

Businessman Maksim Freidzon confirmed to Radio Svoboda that Putin went to the moon during his political career several times.

The club no longer exists today, and the building is used by the university. 

Vladimir Putin has not publicly commented on the “naked party” scandal in Moscow, but the “incident” was a matter of “paramount importance” for Russian media, politicians and social media.

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