Chronicle of pressure on LGBTQ people: Human rights news, court updates & analysis | 62 related articles

09.07.2025

13:53

Temporarily occupied Autonomous Republic of Crimea

On 28 May, the Kerch City Court in occupied Crimea upheld a fine against local resident Irina Khokhatkina: 100,000 roubles (approximately US$1,100) for posting memes featuring men in wedding dresses. This information appeared on the court’s website and was noted by Verstka media.

Khokhatkina was found guilty under the so-called “LGBTQ propaganda” article (part 3, article 6.21, Code of Administrative Offences). The grounds were two posts on VKontakte. In one of them, there were four memes featuring men in wedding dresses with captions: “Why should I invite you on a date?,” “I was waiting for you to make the first move,” “Let’s split the bill,” and “Prove and show that you need me.” According to the court’s decision, the memes “show the appearance of men with characteristics that, in Russian culture, do not correspond to the image of a man of traditional sexual orientation,” and also display “traditional feminine traits and features.”

The other post that caught the attention of law enforcement was a video “showing two girls in bed, naked and kissing.”

The case was initially tried in a magistrate’s court. In her appeal, Khokhatkina noted that the memes with men in wedding dresses were a repost from a public page about relationships between men and women and remain publicly accessible.

08.07.2025

14:12

Saint Petersburg

A protocol for “LGBT propaganda” (Part 1 of Article 6.21 of the Code of Administrative Offences) has been drawn up against the bookshop “Podpisnye Izdaniya.” This was reported by “Bumaga,” citing the press service of the city courts.

It is not yet known what exactly prompted the protocol. On 10 April, law enforcement officers visited the bookshop for an inspection. They confiscated several dozen books that mentioned LGBT issues. After the inspection, “Podpisnye Izdaniya” was given a list of 48 books that needed to be removed from the shop’s shelves.

At the end of May, the shop was fined 800,000 roubles (approx. US$9,000) under the same article. The Kuibyshev District Court found “LGBT propaganda” in Susan Sontag’s books “On Women” and “Against Interpretation and Other Essays,” as well as Olivia Laing’s “The Lonely City.”

In June, the court fined Elena Orlova, the director of “Podpisnye Izdaniya,” 20,000 roubles (approx. US$225). She was charged under the article on cooperation with an “undesirable organisation” (Art. 20.33 of the Code of Administrative Offences) because of Igor Olinevich’s book “I’m Going to Magadan.” The police and court claimed that the book was published with the support of the Belarusian Anarchist Black Cross, which is designated as “undesirable” in Russia.

10 July—The Kuibyshev District Court in St Petersburg closed the case against “Podpisnye Izdaniya” due to the expiration of the statute of limitations, reports the United Press Service of the city’s courts.

The shop was accused of selling 37 books which, according to experts from the Herzen State Pedagogical University, allegedly contained LGBT propaganda.

19.06.2025

11:27

In Krasnodar, police have filed a charge of “LGBT propaganda” (part 1, article 21 of the Administrative Code) against a 42-year-old resident of Labinsk, a city in southern Russia, who has a previous conviction for theft. This was reported by the press service of the city’s police. The report was highlighted by the “Crime 6.21” project.

The man was wearing “women’s clothing” while on public transport. According to law enforcement, by doing so the Labinsk resident “engaged in propaganda of non-traditional sexual relationships” because his actions “differ from established norms of behaviour in ordinary society and distort the perception of the social equivalence of traditional and non-traditional sexual relationships.”

The case materials have been submitted to the court for consideration.

The day before, the man had been detained by criminal investigation officers. He is also accused of stealing a fishing rod and a mixer tap from a garage.

16.06.2025

16:18

Sverdlovsk Oblast

The Yeltsin Centre has cancelled a lecture by Nikolay Nakhshunov, a lecturer at the Moscow School of Social and Economic Sciences (Shaninka), due to a post in the “UralLive” channel, which is linked to the Urals team of propagandist Vladimir Solovyov. This was reported by It’s My City.

According to journalists, the lecture was intended to discuss the philosophy of Deleuze, psychoanalysis, and their connection to modern social theories.

Nakhshunov’s lecture, planned for 17 June at the Yeltsin Centre, was cancelled after a post appeared in the “UralLive” Telegram channel, part of a media network associated with Vladimir Solovyov. The post claimed that Nakhshunov collaborates with organisations supporting the queer community.

After this publication was released, calls to cancel the event began to circulate on social media. Several hours later, the Yeltsin Centre announced that the lecture was cancelled.

In April, the Yeltsin Centre removed director Vladimir Mirzoev’s play “I Killed the Tsar” from its schedule, and in February a meeting with poet German Lukomnikov was disrupted. According to “UralLive” and the “Russian Community,” they allegedly hold anti-Russian views. In May, it became known that a lecture by philosophy populariser Dmitry Khaustov would not take place.

11.06.2025

11:47

Republic of Sakha (Yakutia)

An “man in women’s clothing” from Yakutsk (a city in Russia’s Far East) has been fined 50,000 rubles (approximately US$560) under the “LGBT propaganda” law (part 1 of article 6.21 of the Code of Administrative Offences). This was reported by the local Interior Ministry.

According to law enforcement, the “offender, while intoxicated, applied makeup in a demonstrative manner, used foul language, harassed passersby and behaved provocatively in public places.” As a result, they also drew up reports under the articles on minor hooliganism (part 1 of article 20.1 of the Code of Administrative Offences) and being drunk in public (article 20.21).

10:33

Moscow

A protocol has been drawn up against the Moscow bookshop Falanster for alleged “LGBT propaganda” (Part 1, Article 6.21 of the Code of Administrative Offences). This was reported by Mediazona, which found the case record on the website of the Tverskoy District Court of Moscow.

The reason for the protocol is unknown. Under this article, legal entities face a fine of between 800,000 and one million roubles (approximately US$8,900 to US$11,100) or administrative suspension of activities for up to 90 days.

In addition, Mediazona discovered that the court has registered a new protocol under the article on participation in the activities of an “undesirable organisation” (Article 20.33 of the Code of Administrative Offences) against Boris Kupriyanov, a co-founder of Falanster.

Both cases will be heard in the morning on 18 July.

At the end of May, the court already imposed fines on both the bookshop and Kupriyanov under protocols on “undesirable organisations.” Falanster was fined 80,000 roubles (about US$900), and its co-founder was fined 40,000 roubles (about US$450).

The case concerned a book by anarchist and political prisoner from Belarus, Ihar Alinevich, about his time in the KGB pre-trial detention centre in Minsk. Security officials decided it was published with support from the “Anarchist Black Cross Federation,” which has been declared an “undesirable organisation” in Russia. Kupriyanov did not admit guilt—he explained that this is a second-hand book and that two copies had been brought into the shop. Falanster, he stressed, was not involved in the activities of said anarchist organisation and did not communicate with its representatives.

Additionally, in February, Falanster cancelled a presentation of a book about anti-fascism after denunciations from pro-government activists, and in March, prosecutors visited the shop for an inspection and seized several books, including works by Michel Foucault, Hannah Arendt, Walter Benjamin, and Susan Sontag.

The date of the hearings has been corrected.

10.06.2025

17:52

Moscow

The Tagansky District Court in Moscow has fined Apple six million roubles (approximately US$67,000) under two charges related to “LGBT propaganda” (part 3, article 6.21 of the Code of Administrative Offences). This was reported by “Ostorozhno, novosti.”

The reasons for the charges remain unknown, as the company requested that the hearings be held behind closed doors, according to RIA Novosti. The company’s lawyer stated that “confidential data relating to the operation of services, ‘very sensitive’ internal communications within Apple, and official documents” would be mentioned during the session.

In May, Apple was also given three more fines totalling 7.5 million roubles (approximately US$84,000) on similar charges.

07.06.2025

10:18

Moscow

A raid took place at the “Three Monkeys” club in Moscow. This was reported by the Telegram channel “Ostorozhno, Novosti” (“Caution, News”).

The police and OMON riot police entered the venue. The raid, according to “Ostorozhno, Novosti,” may be connected to “the fight against LGBT propaganda or the distribution of substances.”

The Telegram channel quotes eyewitnesses: “Everything happened spontaneously. Everyone was forced face down on the floor, searched for prohibited substances, and some people were injured by cuts from broken glass. An ambulance crew and several police vehicles arrived on the scene.”

30.05.2025

10:19

The Tagansky District Court in Moscow has fined Telegram 4 million roubles (approximately US$44,000) for failing to remove queer channels (under Part 2 of Article 13.41 of the Administrative Code), reported TASS.

The press release refers to “10 channels dedicated to same-sex sexual relationships” found by Roskomnadzor staff, which they had first demanded be deleted; when this was unsuccessful, they drew up a report.

12:21 “Mediazona” drew attention to the decision published by the Tagansky court.

The document lists links to projects which, according to Roskomnadzor, “promote non-traditional sexual relationships, paedophilia, and gender transition.” These include the channels of the Sphere Foundation, which provides assistance to LGBTQ+ people; the European human rights organisation EQUAL PostOst; and sex educator and queer activist Sasha Kazantseva.

The decision also states that Telegram did not remove channels where calls for unauthorised mass events were published. Among those named in the document are the channels of the Bashkort unit, fighting on the side of Ukraine, and activists from Bashkortostan (a republic in the Urals), as well as the “FSB Boutique” channel.

28.05.2025

15:46

Republic of Bashkortostan

Kira Belaya, an activist from Magnitogorsk, was fined 2,000 roubles (approx. US$22) because of an emoji in her Telegram nickname featuring the cover of a Pink Floyd album. She was accused of displaying extremist symbols (Article 20.3 of the Administrative Code). Kira Belaya told this to Mediazona.

The case against the activist was initiated over an emoji showing the convergence of light, when a rainbow passes through a prism and forms a single ray. According to Belaya, on 17 May she travelled to the village of Askarovo in Bashkortostan, where a hearing was due to take place on the construction of a mining and processing plant. Local residents are opposed to the project.

She was not allowed in to the hearing, but officers took her documents for inspection. The very next day, police came to see her in Magnitogorsk, an industrial city in the Urals. They took Belaya to the police station, where a report was written up.

At the 20 May court hearing, Belaya argued that the drawing of a triangle with a flag refers to the cover of the album Dark Side of the Moon and “is not identical to LGBT symbols.”

The judge, however, considered Belaya’s arguments to be simply a “defence strategy” and stated that the emoji could be “identified with the symbols of the LGBT movement, which is banned in the Russian Federation.”

In her appeal against the decision of the Abzelilovsky District Court of Bashkortostan, she pointed out that she “has no connection to the LGBT movement,” “does not share” its ideology, and is in a relationship with a man, with whom she is raising a child.

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Chronicle of pressure on LGBTQ people

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