Over 18 months, Russia imposed nearly $277,000 in fines for ‘propaganda of non-traditional relationships’

Russian courts imposed 188 fines totaling nearly 30 million rubles (about $277,000) in 2023 and the first half of 2024 under laws targeting the “propaganda of non-traditional relationships, gender transition, and pedophilia,” according to the Russian Supreme Court’s judicial department, as reported by TASS.

In 2023, courts fined 101 individuals and legal entities a total of 16.2 million rubles (about $150,000) under related articles. In the first half of 2024, another 87 individuals and legal entities were fined a combined 13.7 million rubles (about $127,000), according to the department. Of the nearly 30 million rubles in fines, 16.2 million rubles (about $150,000) have been paid voluntarily or forcibly collected.

In December 2022, President Vladimir Putin signed a law introducing fines for “propaganda of non-traditional sexual relationships, preferences, and gender transition,” as well as for disseminating such content to minors and for “propaganda of pedophilia.” The legislation expanded on a 2013 law that banned “LGBT propaganda” directed at minors. In November 2023, Russia’s Supreme Court banned the non-existent “international LGBT movement” as an “extremist organization.”