The Russian government has just officially declared the “LGBT movement” a “terrorist organization.”
On Friday, Russia’s Federal Financial Monitoring Service (Rosfinmonitoring) expanded its list of persons and organizations involved in extremist activities or terrorism.
The list now includes the LGBT movement.
The updated list can be found on the agency’s website.
According to the law, banks are required to freeze the funds of persons included in this list and suspend services to them.
Last November, the Russian Supreme Court upheld the Ministry of Justice’s recognition of the international LGBT movement as extremist.
The court also recognized its structural divisions as extremist and banned them.
According to Interfax sources, the law “does not affect the right of citizens to privacy and will not entail any negative legal consequences.”
The restrictions are related to the need to comply with the ban on “LGBT propaganda.”
The ban includes advertising, generating interest, and involvement in the LGBT movement.
In 2022, Russia expanded an existing ban on “LGBT propaganda” to minors.
The government expanded the law by outlawing it altogether.
Vyacheslav Volodin, the speaker of the State Duma, promised that the new laws would protect children.
At the time, Volodin said that the ban would shield “our children and the future of the country from the darkness spread by the U.S. and European states.”
President Vladimir Putin clarified last month that the authorities do not have issues with what members of the community do in their personal lives.
However, he asserted that it becomes an issue when they “flaunt it” in public.
Putin warned that the “LGBT movement” must never involve children otherwise there would be severe consequences.
