April 27 (Reuters) – A Russian court branded a top gay rights group as extremist on Monday and banned it from operating in the country, the latest in a long series of moves to sideline LGBT+ activists.
A court in St. Petersburg, Russia’s second-largest city, said it had ruled in favour of an appeal by Russia’s Justice Ministry to declare “extremist” the Russian LGBT Network.
The ruling said the decision, handed down at a closed sitting, imposed a ban on the group’s activities throughout the country.
Russian authorities have long campaigned against gay rights groups, intensifying legal moves against activists in recent years as part of what President Vladimir Putin describes as a drive to uphold family values.
A Russian state body added what it described as the “LGBT movement” to a list of extremist and terrorist organisations in 2024. That listing referred to the “international LGBT social movement and its structural units”.
The country’s Supreme Court had issued a similar ruling in 2023.
(Reporting by Ronald Popeski; Editing by David Gregorio)
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