First Sanctioned Russian Pride Parade, Held in Village of 7, Cancelled

The first official Russian Pride Parade, which was to be held in the tiny village of Yablonevy, has been cancelled, The Moscow Times reports.

Russian LGBT+ activist Nikolai Alexeyev praised the head of the Novoulyanovsk administration, Svetlana Kosarinova, for approving the event. He posted a letter on social media which appeared to have a signature from Kosarinova, officially sanctioning the pride parade.

Alexeyev wrote that initially a neighbouring town with “a population of 131 inhabitants [was considered] as a place for a gay parade, but this would be too progressive for modern Russia.” So they landed on Yablonevy, a village of just seven people, on the outskirts of Novoulyanovsk.