Russia on Friday decided to add the 'international LGBTQ movement' to a blacklist, declaring the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) movement as 'terrorists and extremists'.
The designation was made by the Russian financial watchdog, Rosfinmonitoring, following a ruling from the Russian Supreme Court last November that deemed the movement as "extremists". While Friday's designation and the November ruling did not point to any specific organisation or individual, it has had a chilling effect on the movement, which now faces an effective ban.
A designation by Rosfinmonitoring can freeze the bank accounts of specific entities named on the list. Since no organisation or individual was named, critics suggest this could be a way to impose a blanket ban on the movement, regardless of participating organisations or individuals.
The blacklist has some 14,000 entities and individuals on it, including terror group Al Qaeda, US tech giant Meta and members of Russia's opposition leader, late Alexei Navalny's party.
In 2022, Russia banned "gay propaganda" among adults. It did so by extending an existing law which forbade it among minors.
The move effectively outlaws any representation of "non-traditional sexual relations" in public and the media.
Russia has also passed laws which declare as illegal the promotion of "non-traditional" sexual relations and banned legal or medical changes of gender.
Representatives of Russia's gay and transgender community feared Friday's actions would lead to widespread arrests, prosecutions and even vigilante persecution.