LGBTQI flee Russia crackdown

Gays and lessbiens are reported to have fled from Russia and the Vladimir Putin's government has since launched a crackdown on the group.

In an email Zeynep Sentek, a Network coordinator said Turkey's record on LGBTQI rights is little better than Russia's.

"Yet Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine was the final straw for Dima and Mitya. They fled to Turkey as soon as they heard the Russian president's speech on the "special military operation,"  Sentek said.

Sentek said as a gay couple feeling the pressure of Russia's newly enacted anti-gay federal laws, they had already been thinking about leaving the country.

"A lot of LGBT activists were punished, going to jail," said Dima.

"It was [already] really hard living in Russia. But now there is no life in Russia at all."

Sentek said Russia's biggest LGBT+ group, Charitable Foundation Sphere (CFS), has been shut down.

"The organisation had provided direct assistance to LGBT+ people in Russia, supported regional initiatives and led advocacy efforts to raise awareness about discrimination for more than a decade," Sentek said.

The Russian Ministry of Justice said the foundation's activity went against state policy because "all the actual activities of the organisation are aimed at supporting the LGBT movement in Russia" and therefore Sphere was aiming to "change the legislation and moral foundations in the Russian Federation".

Writing for open Democracy, the head of CFS  told the story of its closure; explaining how the organisation had been branded a "foreign agent", and how the court ruling set a dangerous precedent for other LGBT+ initiatives in the country.

She also told us the group is not ready to give up on human rights and is not going anywhere.