The Federal Financial Monitoring Service of the Russian Federation, or Rosfinmonitoring, has put the International LGBT Public Movement on its list of terrorists and extremists.
That means the Russian Government can block the bank account of “suspicious” individuals and organisations.
Russian state news outlet Tass added that in November 2023, the Russian Supreme Court, at the request of the Ministry of Justice, had already flagged the international public movement LGBT as an extremist organisation and banned its activities in the Russian Federation.
Currently, 14,000 people and entities are on the Rosfinmonitoring list.
The US internet company Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, and the Islamist terrorist group al-Qaeda are among the other groups on the blacklist.
Russia has a long history of opposition to homosexuality.
There exists legislation on the matter, ranging from banning the distribution of “propaganda of non-traditional sexual relationships” among minors to a constitutional ban against same-sex weddings. Civil unions between same-sex couples are prohibited and Gay Pride events are also frowned upon and generally forbidden.
People wearing “rainbow” badges also face prosecution for “displaying extremist symbols”.
On March 21, the manager of a gay bar and an art director were sentenced by a court in Russia based on the November 2023 “extremist” designation.
They face up to 10 years in prison.
