January 13, 2026

Sexual Anarchy, Too Much for the FSB


Sexual Anarchy, Too Much for the FSB
Just some normal Russian books, nothing to see here.  Yuliasis

On January 10, Mediazona revealed that a court in Zabaikalsky Krai (the region bordering Lake Baikal) fined a bookstore chain after the FSB found "sexual anarchism" in its books. The retailer was found guilty of spreading "LGBT propaganda" after two people filed a complaint about four books with the authorities.

On October 5 and 6, 2025, two unnamed customers bought four books from the Chitai-Gorod bookstore chain. By the end of the month, the two clients brought a complaint to their local FSB office, saying they found "signs of non-traditional sexual relations" in their novels. Officials received the volumes and the sales receipts from the complainants. On November 21, FSB officials raided the bookstore.  

The authorities conducted a linguistic analysis of the materials purchased by residents of the Transbaikal region. The results of the examination found that the books "challenge traditional notions of Russian family and society" and that their authors called for "the elimination of the traditional social value system and its replacement with sexual anarchism." Authorities conducted a "cultural analysis," where they found "a certain homosexual orientation" in the books.

An excerpt from the court decision reads: "The publications develop and present an alternative form of social organization, where individual values of non-traditional nature are extolled, and traditional morality is presented as a sign of a rigid society." According to the ruling, the books called for the elimination of state powers and societal hierarchies in every country. The court said, "the authors call for... sexual anarchism, in which individuals choose their own gender orientation at any point in their lives." 

A court in the city of Chita fined OOO Gramota, the parent company of Chitay-Gorod, R800,000 ($10,090) for "LGBT Propaganda." According to the website Postnews, the books the complainants denounced were "Beartown" and "Us against You" by the Swedish author Fredrik Backman, "Invisible Furies of the Heart" by John Boyne, and "The Left Hand of Darkness" by Ursula K. Le Guin.

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