Vladimir Putin said earlier this month that Russia has been unfairly labeled as anti-LGBT. A new report from Human Rights Watch paints a starkly different portrait.
LGBT activists take part in a protest event called "March Against Hatred" in St. Petersburg on Nov. 2, 2014.
Alexander Demianchuk / Reuters
A new report from Human Rights Watch details rising violence against LGBT people in Russia since the country adopted a ban on "propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations" among minors in 2013. The research comes on the heels of Russian President Vladimir Putin's comments that his country has been unfairly labeled as anti-LGBT.
"Russia recognizes and does not infringe upon the rights of people with non-traditional sexual orientations," Putin said at a Dec. 5 meeting with Russian human rights officials.
The Human Rights Watch report, based on dozens of interviews with Russian LGBT individuals and activists conducted in 2013 and 2014, paints a starkly different portrait.
Violent attacks targeting LGBT activists have increased in the last two years, advocates told Human Rights Watch.
Human Rights Watch documented such 18 attacks from 2012–2014. Activists said virtually every demonstration in support of LGBT rights in 2013, the year the "propaganda" law passed, was attacked.
Alexander Demianchuk / Reuters
Dmitry Chizhevsky, an activist in St. Petersburg, lost his sight in one eye after masked intruders attacked a local HIV prevention center that serves LGBT people.
In November 2013, an assailant fired an air gun and Chizhevsky caught a bullet in the eye. Another victim was beaten with a baseball bat. After the attack, Chizhevsky left Russia.