Russia has spent more than a year creating an electronic database of its LGBTQ+ citizens, independent Russian media has reported.
The country’s top court declared the international LGBTQ+ rights movement ‘extremist’ in November 2023.
In the months since, law enforcement officials have been building a register to track ‘extremist’ LGBTQ+ Russians, insiders told Meduza.
The officials, members of Russia’s Ministry of Internal Affairs, are creating the list using police records of LGBTQ+ people arrested in recent raids.
Moscow views LGBTQ+ people as a shadowy cabal of ‘paramilitary groups’ calling for an ‘open gender war’ and engaging in ‘devil worship’, they said.
Citing ministry insiders, people making the watch list include the dozens of LGBTQ+ club-goers and venue owners detained in recent months under Russia’s ‘gay propaganda’ ban.
The law, which prohibits describing LGBTQ+ lives as normal, has led to even My Little Pony conventions being targeted by police.
One queer bar owner told Meduza that during a raid, ‘security forces copied the entire database from the computer where we keep track of reservations’.
Dmitry Chukreev, of the pro-Kremlin political party United Russia, confirmed to Meduza that ‘records have been kept since the Supreme Court ruling came into force’.
‘Everyone is being recorded and put on record,’ he added.
However, ministry sources said funds and employee numbers are too scarce to establish the database properly amid the Ukraine war.
‘There is only one district police officer left for every six districts,’ they said. READ MORE
CREDIT - Josh Milton | Metro