Russian security forces raided gay clubs and bars across Moscow Friday night, less than 48 hours after the country’s top court banned what it called the “global LGBTQ+ movement” as an extremist organization.
Police searched venues across the Russian capital, including a nightclub, a male sauna, and a bar that hosted LGBTQ+ parties, under the pretext of a drug raid, local media reported.
Eyewitnesses told journalists that clubgoers’ documents were checked and photographed by the security services. They also said that managers had been able to warn patrons before police arrived.
Yup, I posted a link which directly answered the question in the post title and I looked forward to the explanations for why it is incorrect. Unfortunately I never got to participate in that discussion.
Do you realize that only 0.5% of Ukranian forces are part of the Azov Battalion? But they are the group with the most active social media presence, providing most of the images that hexbears throw around. No one else is endorsing Nazis, they’re all fighting to protect their homes and nation.
This Nazi scare tactic is a rather successful political-psychological tactic to justify the war among Russians who view the defeat of the Nazis as the high point in their history which they’d like to re-live.
Look, I can do it too. The Russian government has routinely collaborated with neo-Nazis in order to fight domestic opposition to Vladimir Putin, a policy called Managed Nationalism. The Russian Imperial Movement of neo-Nazi terrorists are allowed to operate and train militias within Russia as long as they don’t target Russians internally. The group worked with the Russian government on the annexation of Crimea, the Russo-Ukranian War, and the War in Donbas.
I personally believe it’s abhorrent to accept and defend the use of Nazi imagery and propaganda, therefore we should reject any actions by Russia. See? It goes both ways.