The Prosecutor General's Office of Russia declared the Estonian human rights organization Eurasian Coalition on Health, Rights, Gender and Sexual Diversity – ECOM 'undesirable'. The coalition, established in 2011 with its center in Tallinn, supports LGBT* communities.
'We are a membership organization open to non-profit organizations and activists working in the field of rights and health of LGBT communities in the Eastern Europe and Central Asia region,' says the organization's website.
The Russian agency accused the coalition of 'promoting anti-Russian views', holding events that 'discredit Russia's domestic and foreign health policies', as well as 'imposing Western ideology that does not correspond to traditional values' and cooperating with structures that popularize LGBT.
The Prosecutor General's message states that legal and physical entities associated with ECOM 'openly support ideas of non-binary extremism'. 'If you gather in one former Soviet republic irreconcilable Russophobes and non-traditional activists, you get the organization ECOM,' emphasizes the Prosecutor General in an official statement.
In November 2023, the Supreme Court of Russia, at the request of the Ministry of Justice, decided to ban the non-existent 'international LGBT movement' and recognize it as extremist. The Russian authorities have declared the activities of more than 200 foreign organizations 'undesirable' in the country.
The register of 'undesirable' organizations has been maintained in Russia since 2015. Foreign or international organizations can be recognized as 'undesirable' if, in the opinion of the authorities, they pose a 'threat to the foundations of the constitutional order of the Russian Federation, the country's defense capability, or state security'. Such organizations are prohibited from operating in the country.
Participation in the activities of an 'undesirable organization' is punishable by administrative liability in the form of a fine from 5,000 to 15,000 rubles. In the case of a repeated violation within a year after the first fine for participation in the activities of an 'undesirable' organization, criminal liability ensues, ranging from fines of 300 to 500 thousand rubles to imprisonment from one year to four years. Moreover, this applies to participation in activities outside Russia as well.
* 'International LGBT movement' is recognized as an 'extremist' organization in Russia.