Sergey Lavrov and Tatiana Moskalkova announce absence of facts of gay persecution in Chechnya

Sergey Lavrov, Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs, has said that his Ministry "does not see a single fact" of violations of the rights of LGBT community in Chechnya. Tatiana Moskalkova, Russian Human Rights Commissioner, has added that she did not receive any appeal from gays from Chechnya.

The Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs has reported that the accusations voiced by Western politicians and human rights defenders against Russia are not confirmed by the facts.

Tatiana Moskalkova has also noted that she will make a decision on the issue after a response from Alexander Bastrykin, the chief of the Investigating Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF), to her request, sent less than a month ago.

Earlier, it has been reported that on May 5, Vladimir Putin promised Tatiana Moskalkova, Russian Human Rights Commissioner, to instruct the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) and the General Prosecutor's Office to help her in investigating those reports. After that, it became known that Ramzan Kadyrov has agreed to help in investigation into the cases of persecution of gays. Meanwhile, the Chechen MIA has reported that the information about the persecution of gays is not confirmed.

The "Caucasian Knot" has also reported that the problem of gays in Chechnya was also raised at the meeting of the Presidents of Russia and France in Paris on May 29.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.