Screenshot from raid, 7 January 2026. REN TV
Security forces beat and tasered attendees of the Harvest Fest underground rock festival in Moscow on Monday, independent news outlet IStories reported.
According to eyewitnesses, riot police burst into the venue, the bar MO[TRI], before the festival had even started and forced those present to lie face down on the floor before searching them for drugs.
Attendees also had their phones checked to see if they followed “anti-war channels about Ukraine and anti-war content”, according to Russian independent TV news channel Dozhd, while anyone who put up resistance was beaten with truncheons or tasered, it said.
One source told IStories that anyone who had subscribed to anti-war Telegram channels was repeatedly asked to sign up to the Russian army, adding that several people were beaten for having subscriptions to Ukrainian Telegram channels.
Anton Shlyachkov, a correspondent from Kremlin-aligned channel REN TV, said that police officers knocked him to the ground, held his arms behind his back and dragged him into the club after noticing that he was filming the raid.
“They crowded round and started hitting me. One punch caught me right in the eye. They mainly hit me in the torso, and tasered me too. Then they tried to break me psychologically,” Shlyachkov said of the ordeal.
The security forces only let Shlyachkov go after discovering his press card an hour later. It is unclear whether anyone was detained at the festival or how many people were present when the police raid occurred.
