You Can’t Stand Being Here Drunk or Sober.” Kitay-Gorod Has Become a Favorite Hangout for “Neformals”...

“You can’t stand being here drunk or sober.” Kitay-Gorod has become a favorite hangout for “neformals” who frighten residents and disrupt businesses. A report from central Moscow

In the summer of 2025, the media first reported on Kitay-Gorod’s “neformals”—unusually dressed teenagers who spend their free time in one of central Moscow’s districts. Around the same time, café and bar owners in Kitay-Gorod noticed that they were getting fewer customers: the rowdy young nonconformists had scared them away.

A year later, police began carrying out raids on the “neformals”: the teenagers are detained harshly, sometimes without explanation. The main criterion is their appearance. But law enforcement officers do sometimes have grounds to intervene: the “neformals” get drunk, shout, and fight, or simply lie on the ground after overdosing on drugs. Some of them also hold far-right views.

The Bereg cooperative of independent journalists spent two nights in Kitay-Gorod—one in the summer and another after the school year had begun. Meduza is publishing the report in full.

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“You can’t stand being here drunk or sober.” Kitay-Gorod has become a favorite hangout for “neformals” who frighten residents and disrupt businesses.…

In the summer of 2025, the media first reported on Kitay-Gorod’s “neformals”—unusually dressed teenagers who spend their free time in one of central Moscow’s districts. Around the same time, café and bar owners in Kitay-Gorod noticed that they were getting fewer customers:…