The Russian Supreme Court will hear a lawsuit filed by the Justice Ministry calling for the "international LGBT movement" to be designated "extremist" and its activities in Russia banned.
The lawsuit will be heard on November 30, according to the Justice Ministry's website.
The lawsuit, filed on November 17, alleges that "signs and manifestations of an extreme nature" had been identified in the "activities of the LGBT movement operating on the territory of the Russian Federation."
The activities, the ministry added, included "the incitement of social and religious hatred" that it said violate Russia's Law on Countering Extremist Activity.
The ministry did not define what it considered the "international LGBT movement" to be in its lawsuit.
In 2013, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the country's so-called "gay propaganda" law, which introduced harsh restrictions against the positive depiction of or raising awareness of homosexuality, which was decriminalized in Russia in the 1990s.
Since then, LGBT rights campaigners and hate-crime researchers have reported a notable uptick in violence and harassment against gays and lesbians, often from conservative activists or those espousing Orthodox Christian beliefs.
In 2022, Putin signed an expanded version of the law making it illegal for anyone in Russia to promote same-sex relationships or suggest that nonheterosexual orientations were "normal."
In July, Putin signed into law legislation banning "medical interventions aimed at changing the sex of a person” and changing one's gender in official documents or public records.
The latest legislation also bars transgender people from becoming foster or adoptive parents and bans marriages in which one person has "changed gender."
Russia's law has been widely criticized by rights watchdogs, the European Court of Human Rights, and the UN Human Rights Committee, which ruled in 2018 that the legislation violated international human rights agreements.
Speaking at a culture event in St. Petersburg on November 17, Putin called LGBT people “part of the society, too" and said they are entitled to winning various arts and culture awards. He did not comment on the Justice Ministry's lawsuit targeting the "international LGBT movement."
He also said Moscow has "no conflict with European society," rather Russia is experiencing "difficult times" with the European elite.