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Rodina and Alexei Zhuravlyov #wingnut #conspiracy themoscowtimes.com

The small nationalist Rodina party has filed a lawsuit with Russia’s Supreme Court seeking to disqualify the liberal Yabloko party from upcoming State Duma elections, Rodina leader Alexei Zhuravlyov announced Friday

“The Yabloko party is full of traitors. These are people who work for the West and hold Western values,” Zhuravlyov told reporters outside the Supreme Court building. Without providing evidence, Zhuravlyov claimed Rodina had uncovered various violations committed by Yabloko

In response, Yabloko threatened to sue Zhuravlyov, who serves in the State Duma as a member of the nationalist Liberal Democratic Party, for defamation over his remarks

Russia’s Supreme Court confirmed receiving Rodina’s disqualification filing earlier on Friday. A hearing is scheduled for Aug. 10

The legal action follows a public clash between Zhuravlyov and Yabloko chairman Nikolay Rybakov during a Central Election Commission meeting last week[…]
Yabloko remains the only officially registered political party running on a pro-peace platform amid a broader crackdown on dissent. Russian authorities have jailed several prominent Yabloko members in recent years over their opposition to the invasion of Ukraine

Russian Orthodox Church, Russian Education Ministry and Archpriest Igor Aksenov #fundie #sexist #forced-birth themoscowtimes.com

At a rural school in Russia’s Tver region this March, a class of ninth-grade students examined models of fetuses during a lesson

"Future adults have come to understand a woman's responsibility toward the life of an unborn child,” the school administration wrote of the lesson. “This is the period that determines whether a small human being will live a full life or die forever”

This class was a so-called “chastity lesson,” part of a growing nationwide campaign that brings Orthodox priests into classrooms to promote abstinence before marriage, discourage abortion and reinforce what Russian authorities describe as traditional family values

The campaign comes as Russia grapples with a deepening demographic crisis[…]
Many of the so-called “chastity lessons” take place as part of Family Studies, the Education Ministry's new course on family life introduced in 2024[…]
Some church officials have proposed taking the campaign beyond the classroom. Archpriest Igor Aksenov has suggested producing chastity-themed merch, including T-shirts with slogans like “I'm waiting” and “Chaste until marriage,” that could appeal to teenagers[…]
The Russian Orthodox Church says spiritual and moral education should provide an alternative to what it calls the "hedonistic values that dominate society." As a result, classes often contrast Christian marriage with cohabitation, which is commonly referred to in Russia as a "civil marriage."

At a school in the Tver region town of Staritsa earlier this year, 10th-graders were asked: “What should a strong family life be built on — chastity or passion?”

Students walked to the front of the classroom and cast their votes on a board divided into two columns, one for each choice. Photos of the vote were later published on the school's official VKontakte page[…]
Alongside fetal models and presentations featuring images of embryos, priests also screen films promoting anti-abortion messages and traditional family values

Timur Beslangurov and the Russian government #crackpot #homophobia #transphobia #wingnut themoscowtimes.com

Russia to Build ‘Migrant Village’ for Conservative American Expats

Russian authorities will launch construction of a village outside Moscow for conservative-minded Americans and Canadians next year, the state-run RIA Novosti news agency reported Thursday.

Russia has for years positioned itself as a bastion of "traditional" values in contrast with Western liberalism as its relations with the West have deteriorated over its 2014 annexation of Crimea and 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Timur Beslangurov, a migration lawyer at Moscow’s VISTA Foreign Business Support, claimed that “around 200 families” wish to emigrate to Russia for “ideological reasons.”

“The reason is propaganda of radical values: Today they have 70 genders, and who knows what will come next,” RIA Novosti quoted Beslangurov as saying, echoing President Vladimir Putin’s frequently deployed grievances against Western countries’ comparative gender freedom.

“Many normal people emigrate and are considering Russia, but they’re faced with huge bureaucratic problems with Russia’s migration law,” he said.

He said the Moscow region administration has greenlit the construction of the expat village and that it will be financed by the relocating families.

The lawyer further claimed without offering evidence that “tens of thousands” of foreigners without Russian roots would like to move to Russia for similar ideological reasons.

Patriarch Kirill of Moscow #crackpot #homophobia #fundie #wingnut themoscowtimes.com

Russian Church Leader Appears to Blame Gay Pride Parades for Ukraine War

The head of Russia’s Orthodox Church appeared to blame liberal Western values — drawing particular attention to gay pride parades — for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in his Sunday sermon.

President Vladimir Putin ordered the deadly “special operation” in Ukraine on Feb. 24 to “demilitarize and denazify” the pro-Western country after recognizing eastern Ukraine's two breakaway territories as independent republics.

But Patriarch Kirill said the war is about “which side of God humanity will be on” in the divide between supporters of gay pride events — or the Western governments that allow them — and their opponents in Russian-backed eastern Ukraine.

“Pride parades are designed to demonstrate that sin is one variation of human behavior. That's why in order to join the club of those countries, you have to have a gay pride parade,” he said in his Forgiveness Sunday sermon.

The Russian church leader characterized gay pride parades as a “loyalty test” to Western governments, which Ukraine’s breakaway republics have “fundamentally rejected.”

“For eight years there have been attempts to destroy what exists in Donbas,” Patriarch Kirill said, referring to the region where Kyiv has been at war with the separatist republics since 2014.

“And in Donbas there is a rejection, a fundamental rejection of the so-called values that are offered today by those who claim world power,” he said.

“We know that if people or countries reject these demands, they are not part of that world, they become strangers to it.”
Patriarch Kirill painted the Russian invasion of Ukraine in more apocalyptic colors as a conflict “far more important than politics.”

“If humanity accepts that sin is not a violation of God's law, if humanity accepts that sin is a variation of human behavior, then human civilization will end there,” send there.

[...]

Sergei Lavrov #conspiracy #racist #wingnut themoscowtimes.com

Russia Warns of Anti-White 'Aggression' in U.S.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Thursday warned that anti-white racism might be building in the United States and said that political correctness "taken to the extreme" would have lamentable consequences. In an interview with political scientists broadcast on national television, Moscow's top diplomat said Russia had long supported a worldwide trend that "everyone wants to get rid of racism."

"We were pioneers of the movement promoting equal rights of people of any skin color," he said.

But Lavrov stressed it was important "not to switch to the other extreme which we saw during the 'BLM' (Black Lives Matter) events and the aggression against white people, white U.S. citizens."

Lavrov accused the United States of seeking to spread what he called "a cultural revolution" around the world.

"They have colossal possibilities for it," he said in the interview.

"Hollywood is now also changing its rules so that everything reflects the diversity of modern society," he said, calling that "a form of censorship."

"I've seen Black people play in Shakespeare's comedies. Only I don't know when there will be a white Othello," Lavrov said.

"You see this is absurd. Political correctness taken to the point of absurdity will not end well."

Gennady Onishchenko #fundie themoscowtimes.com

Russia's proposed restrictions on condom imports would make citizens more "disciplined," and may also help raise the birth rate, a Cabinet adviser and former public health chief was quoted by Russian media as saying.

Gennady Onishchenko, a former chief sanitary doctor known for his creative approach to medical advice, said Tuesday that "rubber technical goods [condoms] have nothing to do with health," state news agency RIA Novosti reported.

Onishchenko was commenting on import restrictions proposed by the Industry and Trade Ministry earlier in the day, which also called for a ban on X-ray and ultrasound machines, defibrillators, incubators and other medical equipment.

Banning condom imports "will simply make one more disciplined, more strict and discriminating in choosing partners, and maybe will do a favor to our society in respect to solving demographic problems," Onishchenko was quoted by RIA Novosti as saying.

His comments come at a time when sexually transmitted diseases are widespread in Russia and HIV infection rates are on the rise, even as most European countries have succeeded in bringing them down.

Alexei Krestianov #fundie themoscowtimes.com

A lawyer in Novosibirsk has called for a ban on stories about a goat and a tiger in a national park in Russia's Far East, arguing that the widespread media coverage of the pair is 'covert gay propaganda' and poses a threat to Russian children.

The animals gained worldwide fame when Amur the tiger failed to pounce on a goat named Timur after it was released into his enclosure at the Primorye Safari Park as dinner.

Instead of eating his prey, Amur developed an unlikely friendship with the goat and the two were filmed walking around the park together, charming media audiences worldwide. YouTube videos of the pair received millions of hits.

But lawyer Alexei Krestianov has appealed to the General Prosecutor's Office to ban future coverage because it poses a threat to the rights of children, a copy of the letter published on his personal Facebook page on Wednesday, said.

The letter argued that the “positive” exposure given to the “non-traditional co-habitation” of two male animals was “an intrusion into the private lives of underage citizens and covert gay propaganda, as well as an active imposition of homosexuality.”

Krestianov added the stories could have a negative influence on the formation of children's personalities by “arousing interest in non-traditional sexual relationships” and causing confusion over their sexual identities.