Russia’s General Prosecutor on Thursday banned the Elton John AIDS Foundation from operating in the country, claiming it’s part of an effort “by the ‘collective West’ to discredit traditional values and escalate social tensions” in Russia.

The ban stopped short of deeming the foundation an “extremist” group under the umbrella of a 2023 order by Russia’s Supreme Court designating the so-called “international LGBT social movement” as an “extremist organization.”

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“For me, being openly gay, if I want to be myself, I have to make this step, and I did it.”

That declaration paved the way for increased persecution of LGBTQ+ activists throughout the country and abroad, adding to “gay propaganda” laws that were already erasing LGBTQ+ identity from public life in Russia.

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The Elton John AIDS Foundation is registered in both the U.S. and Britain as non-governmental organizations. Both NGOs are now officially designated as “undesirable organizations” in Russia. The designation exposes foundation staff and partners to potential criminal prosecution.

John established his namesake foundation in 1992 to increase access to health care related to HIV/AIDS and address anti-LGBTQ+ stigma associated with the disease. The foundation has raised more than $600 million to support over 3,100 projects in 95 countries, including Russia.

According to Rospotrebnadzor, the Russian federal agency for public health and consumer rights, more than 1.2 million people in the country carry the HIV virus, the highest per capita rate in Europe.  

John has a large fan base in Russia, where he’s performed multiple sold-out concerts. He’s also been outspoken about what he calls unacceptable discrimination against gay people by Russian authorities.

In 2014, John published an open letter condemning Russia’s “gay propaganda” law, enacted the year before and expanded in successive legislation.

“When a musician plays along with the promoters of democracy, you get propaganda,” the General Prosecutor’s office said in an overtly political statement announcing the ban of the NGOs, posted to its official Telegram channel and reported by Reuters. “And if Elton John is at the piano, it is not just anti-Russian propaganda.”  

In a separate statement on its website, the prosecutor’s office pointed to the foundation’s promotion of “non-traditional sexual relationships, Western family models, and gender reassignment.”

The statement also accused the foundation of taking part in what it called a coordinated Western campaign to “denigrate Russia” over its war in Ukraine, referred to by its official designation as a “special military operation.”

President Vladimir Putin has portrayed the battles against both Ukraine and the “international LGBT social movement” as twin fronts in an existential struggle with a decadent West.

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