Photo: PostNews

Law enforcement officers and far-right activists have raided a private party in the town of Kamensk-Uralsky in the Russian Urals on suspicion of “LGBT propaganda”, state news agency TASS reported on Saturday.

A law enforcement officer who spoke to the agency said the police had stopped “LGBT obscurantism” at a 90s themed party in a rented house, claiming that the party organisers had invited drag performers to the event “for a fascinating journey back in time”.

The organiser of the event has been charged with a misdemeanour for “spreading propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations”, the source said, but the police are now considering whether to open a criminal case for “organising the activity of an extremist organisation”, which carries a sentence of up to to eight years in prison.

Videos of the raid published by Russian news outlet PostNews show partygoers lying face down on the floor while a police officer interrogates one of the attendees about his appearance. According to the outlet, 26 people were detained and taken to a police station, but released after having their fingerprints taken.

Since Russia’s Supreme Court outlawed the “international LGBT movement” in 2023, nightlife in the country has undergone dramatic changes, with increased police raids on venues across its major cities. Armed police have been known to terrify partygoers, beating them, checking their possessions, and forcing them to lie face down on the floor, sometimes for hours at a time.