Russia has added the “LGBT movement” to its list of extremist and terrorist organizations, citing a Supreme Court ruling from November. This decision follows a petition by Moscow’s Justice Ministry.
Managed by the Rosfinmonitoring agency, the blacklist contains around 14,000 individuals and entities, including well-known banned military organizations and even US tech giant Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.
According to Russia’s RIA state news agency, the designation specifically targets the “international LGBT social movement and its structural units.”
Recently, a Russian court ordered the pre-trial detention of two employees of a gay bar, marking the first such case since the Supreme Court’s decision. They were accused of running an “extremist organization.”
In 2022, Russia implemented a ban on “gay propaganda” among adults, prohibiting the expression of “non-traditional sexual relations” in public and the media. This ban was already in place for minors since 2013.
Furthermore, the Russian government has increased restrictions on “foreign agents,” making it easier to suppress NGOs and websites receiving support from outside the country.
Last year, Russia banned gender-affirming surgery, with officials condemning gender reassignment as a “path to degeneration.”
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