Russia’s crackdown on LGBTI+ rights has intensified, after a court designated one of the country’s leading queer advocacy groups, the Russian LGBT Network, an “extremist organisation” and banned its activities nationwide.
According to Amnesty International, the St Petersburg City Court handed down the ruling after closed hearings requested by Russia’s Ministry of Justice.
“For nearly two decades, the Russian LGBT Network has united activists from across the country, provided emergency assistance and produced vital research on discrimination and violence against LGBTI people. Banning it is a major premeditated blow to LGBTI people and their allies,” said Marie Struthers, Amnesty International’s Eastern Europe and Central Asia Director.
The ruling follows similar decisions two months earlier, when five other LGBTI+ groups were also labelled “extremist organisations”. Those groups include Coming Out in St Petersburg, the LGBT Resource Centre in Yekaterinburg, the Moscow Community Centre for LGBT+ Initiatives, the LGBTI group Irida in Samara, and the LGBTI-themed media project Parni+.
Part of a wider ‘extremism’ campaign
The latest ban builds on the Russian Supreme Court’s 2023 decision to classify the so-called “International LGBT Movement” as an “extremist organisation”.
That ruling was also made behind closed doors, with only Justice Ministry representatives present. It came into force in January 2024 and added the global LGBTI+ movement to a growing list of more than 100 groups banned for allegedly “inciting social and religious discord”.
“When in November 2023 the Supreme Court banned the non-existent ‘international LGBT movement’ as ‘extremist,’ it was clear that the authorities would not stop there. The designation of the Russian LGBT Network and other organisations as ‘extremist’ is a link in the same chain of persecution and injustice by the Russian authorities against LGBTI people,” said Struthers.
Arrests, sentences and escalating repression
Since late 2025, Russian authorities have escalated the crackdown through criminal prosecutions, arrests and fines targeting individuals, private gatherings and media platforms.
In November 2025, a Moscow court convicted 48-year-old businessman Andrei Kotov, who allegedly died by suicide while in custody, of “organising an extremist organisation”. The charge reportedly related to his work running a travel agency that offered LGBTI+ tours.
On 4 December 2025, a court in Ulyanovsk placed three residents under house arrest. Prosecutors accused them of “organising and participating in the activities of an extremist organisation” for hosting closed LGBTI-themed parties and drag shows between January 2024 and December 2025.
On 8 December 2025, a court in Cherkessk sentenced a resident of the Republic of Karachay-Cherkessia to two-and-a-half years in prison after they joined a group chat and posted comments that authorities claimed promoted “non-traditional sexual relations”.
On 18 December 2025, sex educator and LGBTI activist Sasha, or Aleksandra, Kazantseva was sentenced in absentia to nine years in prison. Authorities accused her of spreading “false information” about the Russian Armed Forces and participating in an “extremist LGBT movement”.
By the end of 2025, officials had reportedly opened at least 23 criminal cases on “extremism” charges linked to LGBTI activities.
Growing pressure on free expression
The pressure has continued into 2026. In January, drag performer Aleksandr Knyagin fled Russia after authorities placed him on a federal wanted list following a police raid on an LGBTI event in Kirov on 1 November 2025.
On 23 March, a court in Chita, in eastern Siberia, sentenced 23-year-old entrepreneur Tatiana Zorina to four years in a penal colony for “organising the activities of an extremist organisation” at a nightclub she co-owned.
Authorities have also used fines to suppress support for LGBTI+ rights. On 16 April, a court in Saratov fined the news agency SaratovBusinessConsulting 500,000 roubles, around US$6,700, for publishing a review of the television series Heated Rivalry, which authorities deemed to be “LGBT propaganda”.
Amnesty urges Russia to end repression
“Besides criminal prosecutions and administrative fines, we are also witnessing the systematic erasure of LGBTI people from public life, including through censorship and measures targeting cultural institutions, publishers, bookstores, streaming platforms and online spaces,” said Struthers.
Amnesty International has called on Russian authorities to stop using anti-extremism laws to target LGBTI+ people and organisations, reverse discriminatory policies and uphold the rights to freedom of expression, association and non-discrimination under international human rights law.
