Russian gay attacks 'no worse than UK abuse of gingers'
Russian embassy objects to Channel 4 documentary exposing gangs who hunt and torture gay people
RUSSIAN diplomats have said their country's anti-gay attacks are no worse than the UK's "abuse" of people with ginger hair.
The Russian embassy was responding to a Channel 4 documentary, Hunted, which looks at a vigilante group called Occupy Paedophilia that lures, humiliates and tortures gay people in Russia.
The embassy described the documentary as "hate propaganda" and "full of distorted facts and unverifiable allegations", the Daily Telegraph reported. "One could have easily whipped up such a 'documentary' about a hunting season on redheads in the UK," the embassy added, "saying that 'ginger' people face unmotivated verbal and physical abuse on a daily basis."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
President Vladimir Putin has faced international criticism for introducing a law that bans "homosexual propaganda" among minors. Campaigners say it has encouraged abuse of gay people in the country.
In the Channel 4 programme, a gay man is lured back to a flat and held down as the group set about extracting a "confession" from him. "We will ruin his life, as usual," one member says.
The embassy said the leader of Occupy Paedophilia had since been arrested and charged with extremism, but it also appeared to defend the group, saying: "As its name suggests, [it] targets only paedophiles both straight and gay".
The diplomats described the documentary as a "well-engineered campaign of slander" timed to coincide with the Winter Olympics and added that the attacks on gays are "few and far between and by no means reflect general sentiments of the Russian people".
However, one victim, who was left blinded in one eye after an anti-gay attack, tells the Channel 4 programme he can almost understand why the groups target gay men, as the country's anti-gay propaganda law silences anyone who speaks positively or neutrally about gay rights.
"First they stopped us responding," he says, "and then they called us paedophiles and rapists."
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Andrew Fahie: the ex-BVI premier, cocaine-filled boats and drug trafficking plot
Under the radar Fahie's defense attorney claimed the British overseas territory leader was 'acting like the fictitious CIA agent Jason Bourne'
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Ottawa climate talks: can global plastic problem be solved?
In the spotlight Nations aim to draft world's first treaty on plastic pollution, but resistance from oil- and gas-producing countries could limit scope
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Netherlands split on WFH for sex workers
Speed Read Councils concerned over 'nuisance' of at-home sex work, but others say changes will curb underground sex trade
By Arion McNicoll, The Week UK Published
-
Is Henry Kissinger right about Ukraine?
Speed Read The US statesman made a controversial speech at a virtual Davos appearance last week
By The Week Staff Published
-
How the Taliban is rolling back the freedoms of the past 20 years
Speed Read Supreme leader has now announced that all women must cover their faces in public
By The Week Staff Published
-
Volodymyr Zelenskyy refused evacuation as Russian hitmen ‘parachuted’ into Kyiv
Speed Read Ukrainian president turned down opportunity to leave capital despite threat to life, adviser claims
By The Week Staff Published
-
Russia can still ‘win’ Ukraine war, Western officials warn
Speed Read Vladimir Putin adjusts tactics after ‘humiliation’ for second phase of invasion
By The Week Staff Published
-
Ukraine war: the atrocities unfolding out of sight
Speed Read Vladimir Putin’s strategy of ‘Russification’ is straight from Stalin’s playbook
By The Week Staff Last updated
-
Can Vladimir Putin be toppled?
Speed Read Russia has become what political scientists call ‘a personalist dictatorship’
By The Week Staff Published
-
The meaning behind the Z Russian military symbol
Speed Read Taken from the Latin alphabet, it has become a sign of support for Putin’s war
By The Week Staff Published
-
Houthi rebel attacks: a new development in Yemen’s ‘festering’ war
Speed Read The conflict escalated in January when a Houthi drone attack hit oil facilities in the UAE
By The Week Staff Published