Two gay activists from Moscow Pride were arrested in St Petersburg yesterday (5 April) under the new ‘gay propaganda’ law.

The law, similar to legislation in other Russian states, officially prevents the ‘propaganda of homosexuality to minors’ but campaigners warn it will be used to gag any public discussion of lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender issues or events targeted at gay and trans people.

An anti-gay 'propaganda' bill, similar to the one passed in St Petersburg, has been submitted to the Russian parliament.

The proposed law calls for fines of up to 500,000 rubles ($16,500 €12,400) for 'spreading homosexual propaganda' among minors.

Lawmakers from the Novosibirsk region submitted the legislation to the State Duma today (29 March) and is similar to the law passed in St Petersburg earlier this month.

Olympic bosses have backed equality at the 2014 Winter games but avoided criticizing Russian authorities who have banned a gay Pride House from the event.

The first Pride House was held at the Winter Olympics in 2010 in Vancouver, Canada and it set to be repeated at the 2012 games in London this summer.

A judge in Russia has backed the ban imposed by the authorities on organising a ‘gay Pride House’ for the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi.

Plans for the Pride House were formulated by Russian gay activists following the 2010 Games in Vancouver, which featured a very successful Pride House.

But the dreams of repeating the success of Vancouver were scuppered last year when the Russian Ministry of Justice refused the registration of the NGO set-up to organize Pride House.

Russia’s leading gay activist has filed a lawsuit against a St. Petersburg politician who has accused him of accepting financing from overseas for gay rights campaigns.

Nikolai Alekseev is claiming a million roubles (€25,800, $33,800) in a defamation lawsuit against Vitaly Milonov, the United Russia party deputy and author of the controversial St Petersburg act that prohibits ‘the promotion of homosexuality to minors’ which has now been signed into law.

Russia’s most famous gay activist traveled to the city of Kostroma today (12 March) to challenge the region’s ban on ‘promoting’ homosexuality to minors.

The homophobic Kostroma law was introduced at the end of the last month and its introduction was overshadowed by the passing of a similar law in St Petersburg, which attracted global criticism and protests.

St Petersburg politicians have today (29 February) voted in favor of a new law which makes people criminals if they discuss homosexuality in public.

The law prohibiting public discussion of LGBT issues is similar to rules already introduced in the country's Ryazan, Arkhangelsk and Kostroma regions.

Currently, the bill has fines of up to 1 million roubles ($34,400 €25,000) for organisations and up to 5,000 roubles (€172 €125) for individuals.

Passengers landing at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport today were greeted with a massive 20-metre wide banner which could be seen seconds before their aircraft touched down.

The banner was part of a ‘day of action’ organised by gay activists in Moscow to protest the ‘forced marriage’ by Russia’s leading airline Aeroflot on one of its gay flight attendants, Maxim Kupreev – and to mark the 89th birthday of the airline.

Five activists protesting a bill that would criminalise the ‘promotion of homosexuality’ in St Petersburg were arrested today as the Legislative Assembly gave the measure its second reading.

The five were protesting in front of the assembly building. They were charged with demonstrating illegally and resisting the police, according to Just Out, the St Petersburg LGBT group.

Gay activists in Russia are planning to ask air passengers to boycott Aeroflot, Russia’s leading airline and not to use its services until the creation of equal conditions for all workers.

The call comes following the revelation that gay flight attendant Maxim Kupreev was forced by his employers to enter into heterosexual marriage with his former high school girlfriend following his announcement last year to create an LGBT group within the company to fight for the protection of the rights of homosexual employees.

LGBT political activists in Russia are reporting abuse and attacks at Pro-Democracy rallies across the country.

On Christmas Eve tens of thousands of protesters braved the sub zero temperatures across Russia to protest against the alleged election fraud, corruption and to demand more freedom and democracy.