This is the full, shocking story of the decade-long destruction of LGBTQ+ rights in Putin’s Russia

On March 22 2024, Russia’s financial watchdog added the “LGBT movement” to its “terrorists and extremists” blacklist, the most recent move in a crackdown on LGBTQ+ rights in the country that has lasted over a decade. The Rosfinmonitoring watchdog has the power to freeze bank accounts of specific entities named on the list. This closely follows the first convictions under Russia’s new anti-LGBTQ+ law, put forward in November 2023, which declared the “international public LGBT movement” (which does not exist) to be an extremist group.