UN Nuclear Agency Suspends Russian Representative for Homophobia

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has suspended its Deputy Director General, Russian representative Mikhail Chudakov. The move follows an ethics investigation into the official over the publication of a book containing attacks on the LGBT+ community and feminism.

According to Bloomberg , Chudakov, who has headed the IAEA’s Department of Nuclear Energy in Vienna since 2015, published a 76-page book titled “Treatise on Life” in 2025 under the pseudonym Valentin Voyutin. In it, the author labeled feminists as “hysterical fanatics” and referred to gay men and lesbians as “perverts” and “sodomites.” Same-sex relationships are described in the text as “sinful deviations,” and their influence on young people is called “poison.” Furthermore, the official expressed support for authoritarian rule.

The book drew the agency’s attention after the Russian representative began promoting it at a meeting of the “UN Young Nuclear Generation” in the Austrian capital. Representatives of the youth group handed the publication over to the IAEA’s ethics department, after which the agency placed Chudakov on administrative leave and launched an internal investigation.