Russian security forces raided gay clubs and bars across Moscow Friday night, less than 48 hours after the country’s top court banned what it called the “global LGBTQ+ movement” as an extremist organization.
Police searched venues across the Russian capital, including a nightclub, a male sauna, and a bar that hosted LGBTQ+ parties, under the pretext of a drug raid, local media reported.
Eyewitnesses told journalists that clubgoers’ documents were checked and photographed by the security services. They also said that managers had been able to warn patrons before police arrived.
That’s kinda the whole point of this bullshit. Russia’s entire history is “things go bad? find an enemy and attack them.” This distracts the populace and makes the ruler (at least theoretically) look “strong”. This is why “war” is the answer to almost any problem in Russia. For Nicholas II this didn’t work out though, when he attacked Japan hoping for a quick victory, but ended up losing and exacerbating problems at home, which then led to the collapse of Russia.