Police carried out raids on gay venues in Moscow on Friday night only one day after the country’s supreme court banned what they called “international LGBTQ+ movements” as extremist.
According to the independent Telegram news channel, Sota, three clubs were raided on Friday evening in the Russian capital.
Local media Ostorozhno Novosti also reported that police searched gay nightclubs, male saunas and bars in the capital, claiming they were conducting a routine drug raid.
They reported that people’s passports were checked and photographed by the police.
One clubgoer told them how he feared for his life and potentially facing a prison sentence.
He said: “I was there. I honestly sh** myself when the music stopped, and they said there was a police raid. I thought that was it, I would be imprisoned for 12 years.
"On the way out they took a photo of my passport (ID). So you understand, 300 of us stood naked, in only underwear, and waited for somebody to bring us clothes, and no one understood what was happening.”
Photos and videos taken by the news outlet have been posted on social media, showing a police van and officers outside one of the clubs.
The raids came a day after the Russian Supreme Court announced a ban on “LGBTQ+ movements” and pushed to label them as an extremist in what is seen as the country's most drastic crackdown against the community.
The ruling was prompted by a lawsuit filed by the justice ministry earlier this month, which claimed “LGBTQ+ movements” created “signs and manifestations of an extremist nature.”
The lawsuit did not specify what it meant by "the international LGBTQ+ public movement" which does not exist as a legal entity or organisation in the country.
Activists have warned this would lead to the arrest and prosecution of anyone the authorities claim fit under the “movement.”
In the last few years, the LGBTQ+ community in Russia has faced strong pushback from the government. In 2013, the “gay propaganda” law was passed, banning any public endorsements of “non-traditional sexual relations" amongst minors.
Last year, the ban was extended to films, TV shows, books and advertisements. Earlier this year, a new law that prohibited any “medical interventions aimed at changing the sex of a person” was introduced.
Russian authorities rejected accusations of discrimination against LGBTQ+ people.
Justice minister Andrei Loginov told Russian media earlier this month that "the rights of LGBT people in Russia are protected" legally.
