April 22, 2026

A New Festive Tradition


A New Festive Tradition
A family-friendly kulich. The Russian Life files.

On April 13, the day after Orthodox Easter, URA.ru reported that an employee of a Moscow bar was summoned for questioning by an investigative committee for photos and videos featuring a hookah and a kulich, a traditional Russian Easter sweetbread. The girl worked as a hookah master and set up a hookah right on top of the kulich at the request of a client, then posted the process on social media with the caption, "Even Christ would rise from this."

It is obvious that the accused did not intend any political or social protest and merely wanted to entertain her followers by joining the trend of free interpretations of Easter treats. In previous years, for example, so-called bimbo-kulichs in soft pink color, sprinkled with hearts, were popular online; this year restaurants were promoting kuliches made from sushi. However, the hookah master is being charged under the criminal article for "insulting the feelings of believers," a regulation that appeared in 2013 in connection with the Pussy Riot case.

The next day, the Investigative Committee of the Leningrad Region reported the initiation of a similar case against a girl who posted a photo with a kulich and a dildo on her Telegram channel. The media write that, in both cases, everything started with a complaint from the same person: the founder of the “Male State” movement, Vladislav Pozdnyakov. Pozdnyakov is a right-wing blogger and misogynist known for harassing feminists and women.

At the moment, there is no information about the fate of the two accused women. Both not only deleted the unfortunate posts but also issued apologies. Independent experts said they hope that there will be no actual prison sentences and that the cases will end with fines. “This is just a very convenient article to report,” commented Sergey Smirnov, the editor-in-chief of Mediazona website, reminding his audience that similar incidents have occurred before: “They have a sort of guideline on how to do this, whom to question, and what conclusions to draw.”

Warning people in Russia against any jokes on social media during important celebrations, Smirnov called such cases “festive” and “seasonal.”

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