In Yekaterinburg, the police organized a “roundup” of a well-known gay club in the city

In Yekaterinburg, employees of the local department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and OMON fighters organized a “roundup” at the Fame gay club – on the night of December 10, a themed party was held there.

The police explained their visit with reports from “concerned citizens” that the club sells unlabeled alcohol and tobacco products. According to the results of the raid, nine liters of unmarked strong alcohol-containing products were allegedly “discovered, seized and sent for examination.”

Local Telegram channels report that more than a hundred people were detained in the club, but they were all released after the documents were checked.

Earlier, police “roundups” took place in several gay clubs in Moscow. Officially, they were explained as an operation to catch drug traffickers, but the raids took place the next day after the Supreme Court of Russia declared the non-existent “international LGBT movement” extremist and banned its activities on the territory of the country.

• Recognition of an extremist organization means, among other things, a ban on the demonstration of its symbols, and any non-negative assessment can be interpreted as a justification of extremism or calls for extremist activity. This, in turn, can become a reason for initiating a criminal case and, as a result, a long prison sentence. Since there is no such thing as an “LGBT movement,” the legal ramifications of the Supreme Court’s decision are unclear. Human rights activists fear that the decision may be used to intensify repression against LGBT people.