Russian police raid Moscow nightclubs as part of LGBTQ+ crackdown

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian police raided several bars and nightclubs in Moscow on Saturday as part of a government crackdown on “LGBTQ+ propaganda,” state media reported.

Smartphones, laptops and video cameras were confiscated while club-goers had their documents inspected by officers, Russian news agency Tass said, citing law enforcement sources.

The raids are coming exactly one year as Russia’s Supreme Court ruled that the “LGBTQ+ movement” should be banned as an “extremist organization”.

His decision followed a decades-long crackdown on LGBTQ+ rights in Russia, where President Vladimir Putin has promoted “traditional family values” as the cornerstone of a quarter-century in power.

Footage shared on social media appeared to show revelers being ordered by police to lie on the floor as officers moved through Moscow’s Arma nightclub.

The capital’s Mono bar was also targeted, Russian media reported. In a Telegram post on Saturday, the club’s management did not directly refer to an incident with law enforcement, but wrote: “Friends, we are so sorry that what happened happened. They found nothing forbidden. We live in such times, but life must go on.”

Police detained the head of the Men Travel travel agency on Saturday under anti-LGBT laws, Tass reported. The news agency said the 48-year-old man was suspected of arranging a trip for “supporters of non-traditional sexual values” to visit Egypt during the New Year holidays in Russia.

The raids mirror the concerns of Russian activists who have warned that Moscow’s designation of the “LGBTQ+ movement” as “extremist” – despite not being an official entity – could see Russian authorities crack down on groups or individuals at will.

Other recent laws have also served to put pressure on those the Russian government deems not to be in line with the country’s “traditional values.”

On November 23, Putin signed into law an invoice prohibition of adoption of Russian children by citizens of countries where gender-affirming care is legal.

The Kremlin leader also approved legislation banning the spread of material that encourages people not to have children.