Despite Russia’s HIV incidence declining in 2024, access for LGBTQ+ people has tightened as the 2023 “extremism” ruling against the so-called LGBT movement chilled outreach, PrEP/condom education, and even clinical care.

The LGBTQ+ community has found itself in legal and physical danger: new repressive measures, stricter legislation, a ban on gender transition, raids on LGBTQ+ establishments, and the forced underground operation of support programs and NGOs.

Since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine, the human rights situation in the Chechen Republic has deteriorated. The conflict has served as a pretext for intensifying repression against human rights defenders, journalists, and members of the LGBTQ+ community, as well as for introducing forced mobilization.