Putin Attacks Western Liberalism and Criminalizes Transsexual Operations

During his speech last Thursday, Putin launched a stinging attack on "Western liberalism" and criticized calls to promote gay and transgender rights, in a move aimed at "bringing hardline conservatives together around him," The Washington Post reported.

Putin said his country must adhere to its own "spiritual values and historical traditions" and the need to stay away from the "social and cultural upheavals" of the West.

"Some in the West believe that erasing entire pages of their history, reversing discrimination and making it against the majority in favor of minorities is a renewal of society."

 

Transgender Danger

Putin lashed also lashed out transgender rights, accusing the West of being “monstrous” to children.

He went as far as to compare Western activists pushing for a progressive agenda to Bolsheviks of Russia’s 1917 Revolution “who were also utterly intolerant of opinions different from their own.”

He accused progressives of distorting people’s biological traits with transgender rights. The Russian president regularly rails against Western ideologies and presents himself as a defender of "traditional" values.

“People who dare to say men and women still exist as a biological fact are almost ostracized,” he said.

The Russian president described children's education as "a boy can become a girl and vice versa" as a "hideous" idea and approaches being a "crime against humanity," noting that transgender rights supporters are demanding an end to "obvious things, such as mother, father, family or gender differences," according to the newspaper.

"The tyrannical Russian leader is trying to portray himself as a symbol of masculinity," the paper said, giving an example when he was filmed several months ago being topless and riding a horse as he intensified an authorities-led lobbying campaign against Russia's sexual minorities.

 

Homosexuals Rejection

On June 29, 2013, Russian president Vladimir Putin signed Federal Law No. 135-FZ “aimed at protecting children from information promoting the denial of traditional family values.”

The law bans the “promotion of nontraditional sexual relations to minors,” a reference that is universally understood to mean discussion of lesbian, gay and bisexual relationships.

The law determines the promotion as spreading information aimed at instilling in minors nontraditional sexual arrangements, the attractiveness of nontraditional sexual relations and/or a distorted view that society places an equal value on traditional and nontraditional sexual relations or propagating information on nontraditional sexual relations making them appear interesting.

The ban includes but is not limited to information provided via the press, television, radio, and the internet.

Passed unanimously by the Russian parliament, the law consists of amendments to the Law on Protection of Children from Information Harmful to Their Health and Development and to the Code of Administrative Violations.

Under the law, people found responsible for “propaganda of nontraditional sexual relations to minors,” an administrative infraction, face fines of between 4,000 and 5,000 rubles (US$59 to $74); government officials face fines of 40,000 to 50,000 rubles (US$590 to US$735); and organizations, up to 1 million rubles (US$14,730) or temporary suspension of an organization’s activities for up to 90 days.

Heavier fines may be imposed for the same actions if done through mass media and telecommunications, including the internet. Foreigners who violate the ban can be deported.

Human Rights Watch says this particular law has increased hostility toward gay communities and made it difficult for children to access information about non-traditional relationships.

The Washington Post noted that Putin's remarks are not much different from those of many right-wing leaders in Eastern Europe and the United States, who target sexual minorities in an effort to win support.

Tatiana Stanovaya, head of the R. Politik research center specializing in Russian politics, wrote on her Telegram channel that Putin was trying to "bring together hardline conservatives and supporters of traditional values around him."

Recent constitutional amendments in Russia have also effectively emphasized the prohibition of same-sex marriage.

The Russian Motorcycle Club, “Night Wolves,” which has close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin, organized a large anti-European rally in February 2015, including the slogans "We don't need Western ideology and gay marches," and the club proposed making the phrase "death to gays" as its alternative name.

In February 2015, thousands of people gathered in Moscow for an anti-Western protest against the ousting of Ukraine’s pro-Russian president one year before.

Protesters, including Cossacks, students and activists from Chechnya, waved flags and placards with slogans such as, “Russia’s enemies need a Maidan!” and, “We don’t need Western ideology and gay parades!”

 

'Sputnik Tourism'

Putin is trying to show that he “stands for values that will not divide society and throw it into chaos,” said Matthew Sussex, a Russia expert at the Australian National University.

“On the one hand, it’s a unifying message. But on the other hand, it does hit…the transgender and gay communities that the Russian government has continued to target.”

In the context of belittling the European ideology, Putin has also made a claim that Europeans travel to Russia to get the Sputnik V vaccine because it's safer than the vaccines available in the west.

"I have heard it many times: citizens of European nations come here to get vaccinated with Sputnik and then buy a certificate to show they have had a Pfizer jab," he said.

"Seriously. I've been told by doctors from European countries. They think Sputnik is safer and more reliable."

Russia's Sputnik V has proven to be 92 per cent effective against the disease but it has not yet been approved by the World Health Organization or the European Union.

There have been multiple reports, some of which led to criminal proceedings, that Russian officials and doctors have been caught forging vaccination certificates in Russia for those who did not want to take the homegrown vaccine.

Despite the attack on liberal values, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that the speech should not affect Russia’s relationship with Western countries.

“Russia has been, is and will be an integral part of Europe,” he said.