Russian police have raided the offices of the country’s largest publishing house as part of a criminal investigation into the alleged distribution of what authorities describe as “gay propaganda”, in the latest escalation of Moscow’s crackdown on LGBTQ-related content.
Officers carried out searches at the Moscow headquarters of Eksmo on Tuesday, 21 April seizing thousands of books and taking its chief executive, Yevgeny Kapiev, in for questioning, according to Russian media. The investigation is being conducted by Russia’s Investigative Committee and has been opened under laws targeting “extremism”.
Eksmo’s communications director, Yekaterina Kozhanova, said Kapiev was questioned as part of a criminal case linked to the publication of books “dealing with LGBT themes” and confirmed that several senior managers, including the finance director and head of distribution, were also interrogated.
State-linked broadcaster Ren-TV reported that the publisher was suspected of marketing books to young people that allegedly contained “gay propaganda”, a term used in Russian law to describe positive or neutral portrayals of same-sex relationships.
The case is connected to an earlier probe into titles published by Popcorn Books, a subsidiary acquired by Eksmo in 2023 and closed earlier this year. Popcorn specialised in fiction for teenagers and young adults, including novels featuring LGBTQ+ characters. Russian authorities opened a criminal case in May 2025 after claiming “LGBT propaganda” had been detected in several of its publications.
One of those titles, Summer in a Pioneer’s Tie, which depicts a romantic relationship between two boys at a Soviet-era summer camp, reportedly sold more than 200,000 copies before being targeted by authorities.
The raid forms part of a wider clampdown on cultural producers as Russia promotes what President Vladimir Putin has described as “traditional values”. Laws banning depictions of same-sex relationships have been in force for more than a decade and were tightened in recent years to require publishers to withdraw and destroy entire print runs deemed to violate the rules.
In 2023, Russia’s Supreme Court designated what it called the “international LGBTQ+ movement” as an extremist organisation, effectively criminalising public advocacy and accelerating raids on clubs, media outlets and businesses linked to LGBTQ+ communities.
Rights groups have condemned the action against Eksmo, warning that the campaign is extending censorship into literature and publishing. Amnesty International has previously described similar prosecutions as an attempt to “erase” LGBTQ+ identities through fear and repression.
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