Tragic Turn: Russian LGBTQ+ Travel Agency Operator Dies in Custody After Arrest

A Russian individual who was detained for reportedly operating a travel service for LGBTQ+ clients was discovered deceased while in custody in Moscow, as reported by the human rights organization OVD-Info on Sunday amid a crackdown on LGBTQ+ rights in the nation.

According to OVD-Info, which monitors political detentions, Andrei Kotov — the head of the “Men Travel” agency — was confronted with accusations of “organizing and participating in extremist activities.”

OVD-Info noted that an investigator informed Kotov’s attorney that her client had taken his own life early Sunday while in pretrial detention and was subsequently found lifeless in his cell.

Before Kotov’s passing, the independent news organization Mediazona reported earlier this month that Kotov had denied the allegations, stating in court that law enforcement officers struck him and administered electric shocks during the arrest, despite him not resisting.

Just over a year prior, Russia’s Supreme Court effectively banned all LGBTQ+ activism in a verdict that characterized “the international LGBT movement” as extremist. This action put anyone within the community or associated with it at risk of criminal charges and imprisonment, creating an atmosphere of fear and intimidation.

The LGBTQ+ population in Russia has faced legal and societal pressure for more than a decade, but especially after the Kremlin dispatched troops to Ukraine in 2022. Russian President Vladimir Putin has claimed that the conflict is a proxy struggle with the West, which he argues seeks to undermine Russia and its “traditional family values” by advocating for LGBTQ+ rights.