Russian lawmaker disputes report that government rejected bill expanding 'LGBT propaganda' law

In a Telegram post on Monday, Russian State Duma Deputy Alexander Khinshtein claimed that the Russian Justice Ministry has officially approved his bill that would amend Russia’s law against “LGBT propaganda” by expanding it to apply to all ages, among other changes. Shortly after, Khinshtein published images of what he said is the ministry’s official response to the bill. “The bill is supported by the Government of the Russian Federation,” reads the document’s closing paragraph.

Khinshtein’s announcement came in response to an earlier post from the news outlet Baza, which claimed the Russian government had opted not to support the bill. According to Baza’s post, the Russian government supported the concept of the bill but said Khinshtein’s draft was backed by insufficient data, as well as that citizens would be unlikely to be able to afford the increased fines for “LGBT propaganda” Khinshtein proposed due to sanctions. Baza also posted a purported official document corroborating the claim.

After Khinshtein’s rebuttal of Baza’s report, Baza noted multiple irregularities in the document posted by Khinshtein. The approval Khinshtein claimed to have received from the Justice Ministry, for example, was numbered 106724, suggesting the ministry had issued over 2,500 official letters in the preceding three days.