Russia detains 10 publishers in ‘LGBT propaganda’ case

MOSCOW: Russia on Wednesday detained more than 10 people at the country’s main publishing house Eksmo, including its distribution director, in a case linked to strict censorship laws against LGBTQ people, state media reported.

Moscow has accelerated its conservative social turn during its Ukraine offensive — accompanied by a huge censorship campaign — and branded what it calls the “LGBT movement” as extremist.

During the three years of the conflict, Russia has increasingly taken books off the shelves — including those penned by Kremlin critics labelled as extremist, as well as anything deemed contrary to what the authorities call “traditional family values”.

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State news agency TASS said authorities detained Eksmo’s distribution director Anatoly Norovyatkin and around 10 other people as part of a criminal case against “LGBT propaganda”.

Citing anonymous law enforcement sources, TASS said the case is linked to books released by a publisher called Popcorn Books, which has published books for young adults on LGBTQ identity, as well as mental health issues and racism.

“The Norovyatkin extremism case is linked to the printing of products by Popcorn books, in which LGBT propaganda was detected,” the source said.

While Russia has hugely tightened the screws on the written word and introduced censorship not seen since Soviet times, arrests in publishing are rare.

The Eksmo publishing house was founded in 1991 and leads Russia’s books market.

It prints all genres of adult and children’s literature and has a popular delivery website.