‘How do you even f—?’ In Russia’s anti-queer crackdown, police have spent years raiding nightclubs, private parties, and medical institutions. Now, the authorities have the data for another Great Terr

Since November 2023, when Russia’s Supreme Court designated the non-existent “international LGBT social movement” as an “extremist organization,” police departments across the country have executed a full-scale crackdown on the queer community. Officers have raided clubs and parties and placed LGBTQ+ people under surveillance while bigots harass queer community members and try to expose them to employers and parents. Wherever the authorities go, they collect evidence that facilitates monitoring, from video footage and business records to fingerprints and even mouth swabs. Meduza special correspondent Lilia Yapparova has learned that Russian officials are also discussing overhauling the country’s data-collection practices to create a single electronic registry for monitoring LGBTQ+ individuals — a database that would make blackmailing and persecuting queer people vastly easier.