‘Batons, stun guns — the full package’

Riot police raid Moscow punk concert and search attendees’ phones for anti-war content

Russian National Guard officers violently shut down a punk concert in Moscow on Monday, eyewitnesses told the independent outlets iStories and TV Rain.

The concert, Harvest Fest, was scheduled to take place at a club called Mo[tri]. According to attendees, riot police arrived at the venue before the show began, forced concertgoers to lie face-down on the floor, and conducted searches.

Security officers reportedly went through attendees’ phones and checked which Telegram channels they followed. One source told iStories that officers were specifically looking for subscriptions to channels linked to organizations designated as “undesirable” by the Russian government. Those found to be following anti-war channels were “persistently” pressured to sign military service contracts. Several attendees who were subscribed to Ukrainian Telegram channels were reportedly beaten.

Anyone who “made even the slightest movement or resisted in any way” was subjected to violence, another source told TV Rain: “Batons, stun guns — the full package.”

Officers also recorded attendees’ phone numbers and photographed their identity documents. Whether anyone was formally arrested remains unclear. According to the human rights group OVD-Info, lawyer Oskar Cherdzhiev arrived at the club but was denied entry; officers told him that everyone would be released after their phones were checked. The concert was ultimately canceled.

A day earlier, security forces disrupted a New Year’s performance at the Kirill Ganin Theatre in Moscow that featured nude actors. Media outlets with ties to law enforcement reported that seven of the production’s organizers had been arrested and would be charged with disorderly conduct. The theater’s director, Alexey Filatov, said that officers found no violations and that no charges were brought against the organizers.

Cover picture: Valery Sharifulin / TASS / Profimedia