Russia

MOSCOW — Russian police have arrested several gay rights activists and Russian nationalists who confronted them at a rally declared illegal under a new law against “gay propaganda.”

MOSCOW — “A rainbow pin on your coat or hat could get you arrested,” says Polina Savchenko, a prominent Russian LGBT activist who warns against the display of anything related to gay pride at the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia.

MOSCOW — Russia is on its way to formally prohibiting all adoption by same-sex couples and also banning the adoption of Russian children by single people or unmarried couples from countries that allow same-sex marriage.

MOSCOW — A bill that stigmatizes Russia’s gay community and bans the distribution of information about homosexuality to children was overwhelmingly approved by the lower house of parliament Tuesday.

PETROPAVLOVSK, Kamchatska, Russia — The killing of a 39-year-old airport deputy administrator last Wednesday was fueled by the victim’s sexual orientation, Russian police officials told LGBTQ Nation on Monday.

MOSCOW — Gay-rights campaigners and their opponents clashed at an unsanctioned rally in the Russian capital on Saturday, but a heavy police presence in Ukraine kept the two sides apart at that country’s first-ever gay pride march.

MOSCOW — As news spread over the weekend of the horrific torture and murder of a young gay man in southern Russia, LGBTQ activists in the country are warning that such violence is escalating rapidly and with more frequency.

VOLGOGRAD, Russia — Two men have been arrested for torturing a 23-year-old man to death in Russia in an apparent homophobic attack, investigators said Sunday.

NOVO-OGAREVO, Russia — Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday warned that agreements with other countries on the matter of adoption of Russian children may be changed to ban such adoptions if those countries legalize same-sex marriage.

AMSTERDAM — After getting an earful from Chancellor Angela Merkel on the importance of democratic issues, Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Amsterdam on Monday to face an eyeful of protests from gay rights activists.