Russian influencers hunted down & forced to apologize for kissing

A pair of young women, 19 and 24, were hunted down by Russian police after a video they shot and posted to TikTok and Instagram showed them kissing passionately in a pizzeria just down the road from one of Vladimir Putin’s official residences.

The women were rounded up in the city of Krasnodar in southwest Russia and forced to apologize on camera while being lectured about their “crimes”. They paid fines totaling more than $3000.

Related:

Video shows Russian police raiding gay bar amid national anti-LGBTQ+ crackdown

Activists worry that things will only get worse as Russian President Vladimir Putin centers anti-queer persecution in his re-election campaign.

“Did you understand that your video could be watched by minors and that the French kiss that you performed might have harmed their psyche?” an unseen interrogator asks the younger woman, identified as Vika, in video obtained by The U.S. Sun.

Global perspectives delivered right to your inbox

Our newsletter bridges borders to bring you LGBTQ+ news from around the world.

Daily

Weekly

Good News

“I was not thinking that it could have influenced anyone,” she replies. “I did not think about it. I did not know.”

The officer then asks: “So you often kiss women in real life?”

“No, no, no! It was just a joke. I’m very remorseful, I’m very sorry…. I am only now starting to realize what we have done. And I understand that we should not have done it.”

The forced apology was then posted to state-sanctioned social media. Instagram is banned in Russia.

The original video posted by Vika’s companion, Vlada Alchaeva, showed her sharing flowers with Vika and then presenting a ring. Then, the two go in for a long and passionate kiss.

Video shot by Russian authorities shows the pair led through a police station to an interrogation room, where they are forced to sign documents and then apologize for running afoul of Putin’s anti-LGBTQ+ propaganda law.

Vlada Alchaeva, 24, and her friend Vika, 19, were hunted down by police and will also face hefty fines for flouting laws banning #LGBT 'propaganda'. #russianpolice @9Knowled9e pic.twitter.com/bv9ESDmOBG

— PDS_B2BMGMT (@9Knowled9e) February 7, 2024

Despite the fact that Alchaeva’s post described the romantic moment as a “joke, just for a bit of a laugh,” police wasted no time hunting the women down.

In her own “confession,” Alchaeva explained remorsefully, “We started filming when we were kissing and I’m proposing to her which we are very sorry about and won’t do it again.”

In an interview with a reporter afterward, Alchaeva toed Putin’s party line.

“I do not support any prohibited movements. For some reason, people thought it was real,” Alchaeva said of the passionate kiss. “I love men.”

The women presumably avoided jail time with their apologies and by denouncing LGBTQ+ affection.

Earlier this month, a young woman in the city of Nizhny Novgorod, east of Moscow, was reportedly arrested and charged for wearing rainbow-colored earrings in violation of the country’s latest anti-LGBTQ+ ruling.

In November, acting on a request from Putin’s Ministry of Justice, the country’s Supreme Court declared the international gay rights movement an “extremist organization,” paving the way for increased persecution of LGBTQ+ people and activists in Russia.

The ruling cited dangerous “signs and manifestations of an extremist nature,” including “incitement of social and religious discord.”

Since then, bars, nightclubs, and other LGBTQ+ gathering places have been raided under the guise of enforcing that ruling and other laws targeting Russia’s embattled LGBTQ+ community.