Russian luxury brand Rendez‑Vou established a 25‑year anniversary weekend at Courchevel 1850 in the French Alps on 15 January. The event, costing roughly 30 million rubles, featured Russian celebrities, influencers and Ksenia Sobchak, the so‑called "Paris Hilton of Russia". French singer Patricia Kaas performed a private concert. The lavish weekend - complete with helicopter flights, champagne, luxury hotels and ski‑party - sparked a fierce backlash in Russia. Critics, citing Ukraine‑war restrictions on lavish spending, called for participants to be punished and even sent to the gulag. The incident illustrates the tension between Russia’s elite consumer culture and its political narrative of austerity and wartime solidarity.
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