This Friday, the Russian authorities included the LGTBI movement, which is banned in the country, on their list of terrorist and extremist organizations, which could imply the freezing of bank accounts linked to the group.
The Federal Financial Monitoring Service of Russia (Rosfinmonitoring) has made this decision after the Supreme Court of Russia endorsed the petition of the Ministry of Justice, which urged to declare the LGTBI movement as extremist.
Likewise, the court ruled in favor of banning the group and recognized the structural division of its internal organization as “extremist.” In addition, he clarified that there were indications that the movement was engaging in “extremist activities, such as inciting religious and social discord.”
However, the Russian authorities have defended that this decision “does not violate citizens’ right to privacy and does not entail negative legal consequences” and have pointed out that the movement lacks statutory documents because it was never “founded.”
In this sense, they have stated that this is a procedure to complete the process of completely prohibiting the movement, although Russian legislation establishes that those who finance extremist and terrorist organizations, regardless of the amount, are liable to be sentenced to prison sentences. up to ten years in prison.
Russia began its current repressive escalation against the LGTBI community in 2013, with a first law against ‘gay propaganda’ that, under the premise of protecting minors, limited messages and activities. The latest constitutional reform also includes an explicit veto on same-sex marriage.
At the end of 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law prohibiting LGBTI propaganda, pedophilia, and gender reassignment.
