(LifeSiteNews) — A Russian court has declared the nation’s leading LGBTQ propaganda organization “extremist,” effectively banning the group and enabling the prosecution of its supporters.

While Russia has long cracked down on LGBTQ groups, its efforts escalated following the initiation of its “special military operation” against Ukraine in 2022, even amid questions the movement’s promotion of sexual deviance served as a means of Western ideological and anti-Christian aggression.

The Saint Petersburg court sided with the Russian Justice Ministry’s request to classify the Russian LGBT Network — the country’s foremost LGBTQ nonprofit — as an “extremist” organization, as reported by The Moscow Times.

“The public movement has been designated as an extremist organisation, and its activities are banned in Russia,” the court’s press service stated on Telegram.

Proceedings were conducted in a closed hearing.

According to Russian media outlet Meduza, “the ruling is the sixth against an LGBTQ+ initiative in Russia in the past several weeks,” with five other groups being classified as “extremist” as well.

Due to these rulings, individuals linked to these organizations could face lengthy prison sentences for supporting an extremist entity, penalties comparable to those for terrorism-related offenses in Russia’s criminal code.

‘Moral self-defense’ of society

In November 2023, Russia’s Supreme Court declared the “international LGBT public movement” an extremist organization, officially banning it. The court stated that the ruling also applies to the movement’s subsidiaries and affiliates, though it did not name any specific organizations.

At the time, authorities from the Russian Orthodox Church declared that the designating of LGBT advocacy as extremist to be a form of “moral self-defense” of society.

“We know from the testimony of many Western Christians who adhere to traditional beliefs regarding marriage and family that the activities of LGBT movements are aimed at displacing the Christian idea of marriage and family from the public and the legal sphere,” commented Vakhtang Kipshidzea, a spokesman for the Moscow Patriarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church.

Referencing LGBT advocacy in the West, Kipshidze said that the “logical endpoint of its activities is the destruction of the traditional idea of marriage and family,” which makes it extremist by definition.

Policies implemented to protect children, adults

Russia has maintained and expanded its opposition to the LGBTQ movement for over a decade through legislation and policies aimed at shielding children and upholding traditional family values against “non-traditional sexual concepts.”

In July 2013, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a national bill “protecting children from homosexual propaganda,” banning the promotion of homosexuality and non-traditional sexual relations to minors.

This was expanded in December 2022 when Russia enacted a “total ban on LGBT ‘propaganda’ for minors and adults,” outlawing such content in media, advertising, books, and films nationwide.

READ: Christians should at least give credit to Putin for waging war on LGBT propaganda

In July 2023, Putin signed legislation “banning transgender mutilation surgeries [and] adoptions in Russia,” prohibiting most sex-change procedures and related document changes while forbidding those who attempt to surgically change their sex from becoming adoptive parents or guardians.

Additionally, a 2020 constitutional referendum formally “ban[ned] gay ‘marriage’” by defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman.

Also more recently, in April 2025, Russia banned the Elton John’s AIDS Foundation for “promoting homosexuality, non-traditional values.”

Russia’s ongoing Christian resurgence

LifeSiteNews has also reported on a notable Christian resurgence in Russia over recent decades, particularly through the revival of Russian Orthodoxy and even some growing traditional Catholic communities, supported by the state’s pro-family and pro-life policies.

As part of his onsite reporting last October, LifeSite editor-in-chiefJohn-Henry Westen revealed Russia’s transformation “from abortion capital to pro-life nation,” crediting the Orthodox Church’s growing influence and its alliance with state leaders for sharp declines in abortion rates and a rebirth of Christian morality.

Westen also reported on the Russian city of Nizhny Novgorod, portraying its vibrant faith culture as reflecting a broader “revival of Christian civilization in Russia,” where large families are celebrated and traditional values upheld.

And during his on-location interview in Moscow with Jozef Schutzman and his family of eight (who emigrated from the U.S.), Westen captured personal testimony of this resurgence.

The family praised Russia for treating “kids like gold,” highlighting public expressions of faith, reverence for children, pro-family policies, and a sense of order contrasted with collapsing Christian morality in the West.

According to the testimony of the Schutzman family, Russia offers a much better environment where Christian family life can flourish.