BREAKING🚨🏳️‍🌈 Russian police just STORMED the country’s biggest publishing house, seized thousands of books, and hauled its CEO into an “extremism” case — for allegedly spreading “gay propaganda.” Here is what happened. On Tuesday in Moscow, law enforcement officers walked into Eksmo, Russia’s largest publishing house, with a criminal case file that used one word: extremism. They said they were investigating the publication of “LGBT literature.” They left with thousands of books. Police detained Yevgeny Kapiev, the CEO of Eksmo, for questioning. State media reported that he was a target in a “criminal investigation into extremism” over the release of books containing LGBTQ+ themes. But here is the detail that should make your blood run cold. Officials say the case is about “homosexual propaganda” and “LGBT extremism.” It is tied to books published by Eksmo’s young-adult imprint Popcorn Books and its critical non-fiction imprint Individuum — imprints known for queer-inclusive fiction and social-issue titles. In other words: they are treating LGBTQ+ stories as extremist material. This raid did not come out of nowhere. In 2023, Russia’s Supreme Court declared the so-called “international LGBTQ+ movement” an extremist organization. That vague label gave authorities a free hand to go after any queer person, group, or artwork they choose. Soon after, security forces detained at least 10 publishing professionals in Moscow over LGBTQ+ themed books. Some were charged under Russia’s extremism articles, facing potential sentences of up to 10 or even 12 years in prison for “organizing” or “participating in” an “extremist organization.” Now the state has moved up the ladder to the very top. According to company spokespeople and AFP reporting, police targeted Eksmo’s chief executive and other senior managers — including finance, distribution and deputy commercial directors — in connection with the LGBTQ “propaganda” case. Amnesty International has already called this campaign what it is. “In their ruthless campaign against LGBTI people, Russian authorities have now come after book publishers, accusing them of ‘extremism’ for merely doing their job: bringing books to readers,” its Russia director said. “This shameless heavy-handed use of state apparatus against literature is as absurd as it is terrifying.” Those are her words. Under Russia’s expanded “gay propaganda” and extremism laws, publishers are being ordered to scrub LGBTQ+ content from their catalogues. Some have been told to destroy entire print runs rather than leave queer characters on the shelf. Popcorn Books — the YA imprint that gave queer Russian teens stories where they could see themselves — has already been forced to shut down. Its farewell message told readers: we always found our strength in you. Now the state is sending a different message: that selling or printing queer books can cost you your freedom. This is not about protecting anyone. This is about erasing LGBTQ+ people from public culture, one seized book and one silenced publisher at a time. It is about turning novels and memoirs into “evidence” in an extremism file. It is about telling queer kids in Russia that the stories where they exist proudly belong in a police raid. Thank you for always showing up for Gay News. It would mean everything to me if you followed so we can keep fighting back together. 🏳️‍🌈