An ecstatic crowd dances at sunset on a music stage nestled among trees and illuminated by vibrant art installations. They move to the beats of German, American and French DJs.
The scene could easily be a summer festival in any European capital. Instead, it played out this month about four hours’ drive from the Kremlin, the seat of power that ordered Russia’s invasion of Ukraine almost two and a half years ago.
The event, called Outline and held from 18-24 July, is one of this summer’s leading techno festivals in Russia. Set in a picturesque natural park, it drew thousands of Russian partygoers and featured performances by more than a dozen prominent western DJs.
Since the onset of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, most western musicians and artists have cancelled their concerts in Russia, with many choosing to avoid Moscow as a gesture of protest against the aggression.
Yet, as the war drags on, foreign artists have started to trickle back into Russia, with the techno scene leading the way. The trend has raised eyebrows within the industry. “All western artists who perform there are normalising the war and the Russian regime,” said Maya Baklanova, a Ukrainian activist who worked in the Kyiv music scene for years.
“For the Kremlin, it is important to show to its own audience that western artists are still ready to travel to Moscow and play as if nothing is going on and Russia is not isolated,” she said, pointing to the media coverage of US rapper Kanye West’s recent visit to the capital. Another electronic music festival, Signal, will take place from 15-19 August in Nikola-Lenivets, south-west of Moscow.
“Russian propaganda tries to form a positive image of the country on the international stage by highlighting cultural achievements and separating them from the political situation,” Baklanova said.
She leads an online campaign urging western musicians and DJs to shun the Russian music scene while calling on European clubs to cancel concerts involving foreign artists who played in Russia. “By participating, these artists are also helping the Russian economy and contributing to the military budget,” she said.
Baklanova has noted that more western DJs, attracted by what she describes as high performance fees, are willing to perform in Russia. “I see a total lack of awareness, ignorance and greed among some in the electronic scene,” she said.
Some of the DJs contacted by the Observer defended their participation at Outline, arguing that art and music should transcend politics and serve as a bridge between cultures, even in times of conflict.
“I don’t think you should label a place where free spirits come to share music [with] a totalitarian regime,” said the Brussels-based DJ Alexandre Guisson. “I had a good time, people were awesome and against war,” he added.
Outline’s headliner this year, the German DJ who plays under the name AtomTM, said criticism against his performance in Russia was a “smear campaign”. “I consider myself a profoundly non- or rather trans-political person. Many years ago, I had decided to take the path of making true human connections through music. Unlike politics, which is the mode of separation, I had chosen music, which is the mode of unification,” the DJ said in a statement posted on his website.
But Baklanova argues that this line of argument is “naive”. She said: “You can’t separate culture from politics in present-day Russia.”
Russia has intensified its crackdown on independent music, theatre and media, reflecting a broader trend towards state control and censorship. Ever since the start of Russia’s war in Ukraine, hundreds of prominent anti-war film-makers, writers and singers have left the country in an exodus that has drawn parallels with the 1922 Soviet philosophers’ ships – boats that carried some of Russia’s leading intellectuals into exile. Some of those who stayed behind have been silenced and persecuted.
Earlier this month, a judge in Moscow jailed a prominent theatre director and playwright for six years on charges of “justifying terrorism”, sending shockwaves around the largely suppressed artistic community. Masked police have raided several LGBTQ clubs around the country in an attack on sexual minorities.
Against this backdrop, two Russian music insiders, speaking on condition of anonymity, noted that festivals like Outline could only take place with direct government approval. “No major event can go ahead without direct approval from the authorities,” one of the insiders said.
“They clearly reached a deal – just look at the event’s sponsors.”
According to the festival’s website, Outline’s official partners are T-Bank and Yandex, two leading Russian companies that were once independent but have recently come under Kremlin influence. Meanwhile, the pro-Kremlin outlet Lenta serves as the festival’s official media partner. Last year, a military recruitment tent was set up near the entrance to the festival.
“Outline is not some underground, counterculture festival that is openly against the war,” said Baklanova, pointing to the event’s sponsors. “The foreign DJs participating are sending a wrong signal to all the anti-war Russian artists who are in jail or unable to return or perform in Russia.”