MOSCOW -- A Russian gay couple have asked for asylum in the United States after Russian authorities launched an investigation into their adoption of two children.
The Coming Out and Stimul LGBT rights groups based in Russia said on September 26 that the couple, Andrei Vaganov and Yevgeny Yerofeyev, and their children are currently safe and in the United States.
Russia's Investigative Committee launched a probe in July against social services officials who allowed the couple to adopt two boys.
The men's apartment in Moscow and homes of one of the men's relatives were searched, the LGBT rights groups said, adding that Vaganov and Yerofeyev, who were at the time on vacation with their children outside of Russia, decided not to return to the country.
Russia adopted a controversial law in 2013 that bans "propagating homosexuality among minors."
Under the law, gay couples in the country are not allowed to adopt children.