Roskomnadzor Accuses Russian Journalist Oleg Kashin of LGBT Propaganda Over Anime Meme

The Russian state communications watchdog, Roskomnadzor, plans to draw up an administrative protocol for “propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations” against exiled Russian journalist and publicist Oleg Kashin. According to a report by the independent outlet ASTRA citing a copy of the document, the agency found a violation of the law in one of the journalist’s July posts on his Telegram channel. The formal procedure is scheduled for October 5 at the agency’s regional office in Kaliningrad.

The authorities’ claims were triggered by a humorous video posted on July 17, in which a fragment of Kashin’s live stream was edited together with a scene from a Japanese animated film about a romantic relationship between men. In the clip, one of the characters asks his partner: “Mio, will you enter me?”, to which the journalist nods his head at the camera. In response, the second anime character says: “No, I can’t take it!”.

«Ебанаты» (“Fucking lunatics”), Oleg Kashin himself commented on the letter received from Roskomnadzor. The excerpt used in the meme is taken from the feature-length anime The Stranger by the Shore (2020), based on the manga of the same name by Kii Kanna about two young men falling in love.

Roskomnadzor is a Russian federal executive agency responsible for censorship and control of mass media and the internet. A law banning all so-called “LGBT propaganda” has been in effect in Russia since late 2022. Furthermore, in November 2023, the Russian Supreme Court declared the non-existent “international LGBT movement” as extremist, which led to widespread persecution of human rights defenders and ordinary citizens for any public association with the LGBT community.