A district court in Orenburg has handed down the first criminal sentences under Russia’s ban on the “international LGBT movement,” jailing the owner, manager and art director of a local bar for terms ranging from two years and three months to seven years. The verdict, delivered on 29 June, marks the initial application of prison penalties for activities linked to what the state defines as an extremist entity, following a November 2023 Supreme Court ruling that proscribed the movement and its structural subdivisions. The court also confiscated over one million roubles in revenue from the owner and barred all three from working in entertainment, catering and leisure for two to three years after their release.

According to the court’s press service, the defendants — owner Vyacheslav Khasanov, administrator Diana Kamilyanova and art director Alexander Klimov — continued to organise events at the Pose bar after the movement was outlawed. The prosecution argued that the gatherings, which included drag performances, were “united by a common theme of demonstrating affiliation with persons of non-traditional sexual orientation to an indefinite circle of visitors.” Investigators maintained that Kamilyanova filmed travesti artists, while Klimov held meetings with performers and disseminated content in a Telegram channel. All three pleaded not guilty, and the trial was held entirely in closed session.

Viewed from Moscow, the case operationalises a legal framework that human rights groups and Western governments have described as a tool to criminalise LGBTQ+ identity. The Supreme Court’s ruling did not identify a specific organisation but declared an abstract “movement” extremist, a move that, according to analysts in European capitals, creates a precedent for prosecuting any public expression of non-heterosexual orientation as participation in a banned group. The Pose case originated from a March 2024 police raid prompted by complaints from the nationalist group “Russian Community of Orenburg,” whose activists joined law enforcement officers. Items seized included stage costumes, wigs and a prosthetic female chest. The head of the Safe Internet League, Ekaterina Mizulina, later announced the criminal investigation.

The Orenburg verdict is not an isolated development. In March 2025, a court in Chita, Zabaikalsky region, convicted a 22-year-old woman of organising an LGBT club and initially sentenced her to four years; an appeals court subsequently increased the term to six years and two months. Separately, the director of a travel agency catering to gay men was found dead in a Moscow pre-trial detention centre in December 2024 while awaiting trial on similar charges. The Orenburg sentences have not yet entered into force and remain subject to appeal. Legal observers in Russia note that the case is likely to be cited in future prosecutions, as the authorities continue to bring charges under Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code against individuals accused of sustaining the activities of a movement that, in the words of one exiled news outlet, “does not exist.”