The Kremlin has for years been hardening repressive laws against the LGBTQ community as part of what President Vladimir Putin touts as a drive to promote 'traditional values', including cracking down on films, books, art and culture.
Russian publishing house Eksmo has confirmed that its CEO Yevgeny Kapiev and three other employees are being questioned as part of a "criminal case on extremism" over the publication of books "dealing with LGBT themes."
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In a statement, Eksmo said the probe was related to titles published by another company, Popcorn Books, which was bought by Eksmo in 2023 but closed this year. Popcorn Books' audience was targeted at teenagers and young adults, and some titles contained LGBTQ characters or storylines.
"Several dozens of such books were not reflected in the warehouse balances and for some time were sold in the process of closing this publishing house, which was the accusations of law enforcement agencies against former employees of Popcorn Books," Eksmo wrote on Telegram.
According to the publishing house, which rejects all accusations, the interrogations are related to the testimony given by the Popcorn Books employees accused in the case. It also added that since 2022 the publishing house had been undergoing inspections for possible "propaganda of non-traditional relationships, sex change and paedophilia".
In May 2025, employees of Popcorn Books were accused of "organising the activities of an extremist organisation".
Russian authorities have declared the non-existent "international LGBT social movement" as "extremist" and banned it in Russia.
The novel "Summer in a Pioneer's Tie" by Elena Malisova and Katerina Silvanova, which chronicles the relationship between two young men in a Soviet summer camp in 1986, was cited in the case.
The book was a hit in Russia, selling over 200,000 copies in its first six months.
Eksmo was founded in 1991 and leads Russia's books market, publishing all genres of adult and children's literature.
'Stalinism in its darkest form'
Political scientist Fyodor Krasheninnikov wrote on Telegram that what is happening now in the book industry would have been unthinkable in the USSR after Joseph Stalin.
If the Soviet authorities recognised a book, newspaper or magazine as a "harmful" work, it did not lead to a criminal prosecution, Krasheninnikov said. Instead, those accused would face dismissal from work, closure of the publication, or withdrawal of the book from the library.
"But to retroactively declare any participation in the publication of something that was perfectly legal at the time of publication as involvement in a criminal conspiracy is Stalinism in its darkest form," Krasheninnikov wrote.
The Kremlin has for years been hardening repressive laws against the LGBTQ community as part of what President Vladimir Putin touts as a drive to promote "traditional values", including cracking down on films, books, art and culture.
The ultra-conservative social turn has accelerated amid the Ukraine war, with strict censorship on media and the outlawing of what Moscow calls the "extremist LGBT movement".
As part of the crackdown, Russia has in recent years targeted LGBTQ clubs and bars, raiding them and arresting owners.
Courts have also issued fines and short-term jail sentences to people displaying LGBTQ "symbols", such as clothes, jewellery or posters featuring the rainbow flag.