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A police officer stands guard during the “X St.Petersburg Pride” LGBT community rally in central Saint Petersburg, Russia, August 3, 2019.
CNN –
Police conducted raids on gay bars in Russia late Friday, two Russian online news outlets reported, a day after the country’s top court ruled to ban the “international LGBTQ movement” and label it an extremist organization.
Thursday’s landmark Supreme Court ruling sent a new wave of fear through Russia’s LGBTQ community, which has already faced increasing crackdowns in recent years. President Vladimir Putin is trying to consolidate his image as a defender of traditional moral values against the liberal West.
According to Russia’s two independent Telegram news agencies Ostorozhno Novosti and Sota, the raids took place at at least three entertainment venues in the capital, Moscow.
Police said they conduct routine drug raids, the outlets added.
Ostorozhno Moskva also reported that police photographed partygoers’ passports.
“Eyewitnesses said security forces entered the premises under the pretext of a drug check and photographed visitors’ passports,” it said. “In the middle of the party they stopped the music and (the police) started entering the halls.”
The outlet also posted a video of an eyewitness describing a frightening scene: “I was there. I honestly gave a shit when the music stopped and they said there was a police raid. I thought that was it, I would be jailed for 12 years. On the way out they took a photo of my passport. So you understand, 300 of us stood naked, in just our underwear, waiting for someone to bring us clothes, and no one understood what was going on.”
The independent Telegram news channel Sota, citing an employee of the Central Station gay club in Moscow, reported that the raids took place at the Secret Club and the Mono Bar in Moscow, as well as at the popular pop-up Hunters party.
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Young people react in front of the Supreme Court of Russia building in Moscow on November 30, 2023.
Sota also reported that the Central Station Club in St. Petersburg announced its closure on Friday. The club’s management stated that they had been refused further rental of the site due to the “new law”.
Videos released by the two news outlets show a police car parked outside one of the venues, with lights flashing but no sirens. At least two people who appear to be police officers can be seen at the entrance to the venue.
Well-known Russian transgender blogger and LGBTQ activist Milana Petrova – who no longer lives in the country – reported on the raids on her Telegram channel.
She said the raids took place at private LGBTQ parties, not nightclubs.
“There were NO raids there yesterday. There were raids on individual LGBT parties for adults. There, people’s passports were photographed without their will, apparently for further oppression,” Petrova posted on Sunday.
“I would like to remind you that the law was passed the day before yesterday,” Petrova said. “Never in the history of the country have there been such cruel laws,” she added.
The manager of the popular gay club Mono, who goes by the name Alexey Khoroshy, denied reports that a raid had taken place at his club. Khoroshy said only the pop-up party in Moscow was searched.
“Yesterday was the only drug raid at Hunter’s party. So, everything is quiet as before – we are working! And remember that drugs are evil!” said Khoroshy.
Another source with direct knowledge of the raid at the Hunters Party pop-up told CNN that it was just a routine drug raid.
However, people chatting in an online group linked to the Hunters Party expressed fear.
“No one will have peace anymore, we are now balancing between propaganda and extremism,” a person directly associated with the Hunters Party posted in the group chat.
Another person replied: “It’s dangerous, I’m not going anymore.”
Russian officials did not comment on the raids. There was no mention of routine drug or other raids in state media.
Russia’s LGBTQ community has already faced a host of new laws specifically targeting them.
Late last year, Putin signed a law that expands Russia’s ban on so-called LGBTQ “propaganda” and makes it illegal for anyone to promote same-sex relationships or suggest that non-heterosexual orientations are “normal.”
The ban was approved by Putin just days after a tough new law on “foreign agents” came into force as the Kremlin cracks down on free speech and human rights while its military operation in Ukraine stalls.
The new laws significantly expand the scope of a 2013 law that banned the distribution of LGBTQ-related information to minors. The new version extends the ban on advertising such information to adults.
In Russia, it is now illegal to promote or “praise” LGBTQ relationships, publicly express non-heterosexual orientations, or suggest that they are “normal.”
Correction: An earlier version of this article misspelled the name of the Russian Telegram channel Ostorozhno Moskva and misstated the venues. The raids took place only in Moscow.