Moscow Court Fines Sex Educator Sasha Kazantseva 300,000 Rubles Over 'Queer Joy' Posts
In October 2026, in the Russian capital of Moscow, Justice of the Peace Alexandra Mikhaleva of Judicial District No. 374 in the Tagansky District found Russian sex educator and LGBT activist Sasha Kazantseva guilty of “propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations among minors” and imposed an administrative fine of 300,000 rubles. The legal action was prompted by public social media posts published by the activist regarding the concept of “queer joy.”
The proceedings were conducted under Part 4 of Article 6.21 of Russia’s Code of Administrative Offences (KoAP RF), which penalises the dissemination of LGBT-related information to minors over the internet. As noted by the independent human rights media outlet Mediazona, which closely monitors administrative cases against Kazantseva, state regulatory bodies argued that publications discussing sexual orientation acceptance, mutual support, and positive community experiences within the queer community contravene national restrictions on portraying non-traditional relationships. The magistrate’s court upheld the regulators’ assessment, deeming the posts unlawful propaganda.
Sasha Kazantseva is a prominent Russian sex educator, author of the educational book Sam Sex (“Sex Itself”), creator of the popular Telegram channels Pomyla Ruki (“Washed Hands”) and Devochka-Khuyovochka, co-founder of the queer culture publication Otkrytye (“Open”), and co-author of the adolescent educational project Selftanu. In February 2023, the Russian Ministry of Justice designated her a “foreign agent.” In December 2025, Moscow’s Khoroshevsky District Court sentenced her in absentia to nine years in a general-regime penal colony on charges of spreading wartime “fakes” about the Russian armed forces, non-compliance with foreign agent regulations, and participating in the “International LGBT Public Movement,” which was outlawed as “extremist” in Russia. Kazantseva currently resides outside the country.
Judicial District No. 374, presided over by Judge Alexandra Mikhaleva, regularly handles administrative cases initiated under Article 6.21. In previous rulings, the judge imposed several substantial financial penalties on Kazantseva, including a 500,000-ruble fine in December 2025 and fines totalling 800,000 rubles in the summer of 2026 for various online publications. Mikhaleva has also issued similar penalties against other Russian journalists, human rights defenders, and digital media platforms.
Russian legislation restricting what authorities classify as “propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations” was introduced in 2013 and expanded in late 2022 to ban any positive or neutral public representation of LGBT topics across all age groups, literature, cinema, and digital media.
Urania previously reported on Judge Alexandra Mikhaleva receiving four administrative protocols concerning “LGBT propaganda” against journalist Karen Shainyan, as well as proceedings under the same statute against Olga Baranova, programme director of the Moscow Community Center. In addition, the publication analysed the Russian Supreme Court Judicial Department’s annual report for 2025, which revealed nearly 69 million rubles in total penalties levied nationwide under LGBT censorship laws.
