Russia Fined LGBT Opponents Over Posts Featuring Rainbow Flags
Russian courts have imposed fines and administrative detention over posts featuring rainbow flags even on people who opposed LGBT people. Mediazona examined such cases from different years in a report published on October 28, 2026. Journalists compared court documents with the explanations of those involved; in some other cases, courts took the critical context into account and dismissed proceedings.
Vera Makeyeva, a retiree from Kurgan who supported the ban on the “LGBT movement,” was fined 1,500 rubles over old reposts featuring a rainbow flag. She said the posts expressed opposition to LGBT people. The Kurgan City Court case record states that her case under Part 1 of Article 20.3 of Russia’s Code of Administrative Offenses was heard on March 29, 2025, and resulted in an administrative penalty.
Pyotr Voronin, from Pyatigorsk in southern Russia, received one day of administrative detention over an image placing a swastika and a rainbow flag alongside European leaders. He said he intended to mock the politicians shown, rather than support them. The case is also described in PinkNews’s October 30 report, which summarizes Mediazona’s analysis.
Under a different provision, concerning “LGBT propaganda,” retiree Vladimir Sugakov from Prokopyevsk in Siberia was fined 100,000 rubles. As Mediazona previously reported, his case was heard on August 14, 2025. Sugakov told journalists he had set a slideshow of Pride photographs to Sergei Trofimov’s song “Petushki” as a criticism of LGBT people. In his account, police submitted screenshots to the court without the explanatory context.
The report also recounts the case of Polish Catholic priest Grzegorz Zwoliński, known as Father Grigory, who lived in Kirov. He was fined 1,000 rubles over a rainbow flag in a post criticizing a Catholic church leader. The priest said he added the flag to attract attention. According to the outlet, his residence permit was later revoked and he was barred from entering Russia for 50 years; at the time of publication, he was in Poland and challenging the ban.
The case of poet and journalist Alimardan Ruziyev from Novy Urengoy in Russia’s far north had a different outcome. SOTA reported on September 10 that in July 2026 a court dismissed proceedings over Nazi and extremist symbols displayed in his post. The judge found that the poem and accompanying explanations expressed the author’s negative attitude toward what was depicted, rather than support for it.
These cases involve different legal provisions. Article 20.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses establishes liability for publicly displaying banned symbols. Its note contains an exception for uses that foster a negative attitude toward Nazism and extremism, provided they do not promote or justify the ideology. Article 6.21 separately establishes liability for what Russian law calls “propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations.”
On November 30, 2023, Russia’s Supreme Court, acting on a Justice Ministry lawsuit, designated the “international public LGBT movement” an extremist organization and banned its activities. As Interfax reported, the ministry justified its lawsuit by citing signs of an “extremist orientation,” including incitement of social and religious discord. Following the ruling, courts began treating the rainbow flag as a symbol of the banned movement.
Uránia previously reported on a woman in Kemerovo fined 1,000 rubles over a meme showing a man in a rainbow-colored suit. The court also applied Article 20.3 in that case.
