Our guest this week is Igor Viktorovich Kochetkov. Igor

Viktorovich - one of the founders and current director of the RussianLGBT Network, an organisation founded in 2006 whose main office is located in St.Petersburg. The Russian LGBT Network is an interregional organisationcreated to provide public support for the elimination of all forms ofdiscrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. It is the firstand only interregional LGBT organisation in Russia. The Russian LGBT Network isa member of the International Lesbian and Gay Association.

Topics discussed in the podcast include: the history of

the Russian LGBT Network, its goals and objectives; why it was founded in St.Petersburg; the impact on the Russian LGBT Network of the law on foreignagents; the adoption and consequences of the 2013 law against "Promotion amongMinors of Non-traditional Sexual Relations”; the situation in Russia in generaland in Chechnya in particular for LGBT people; amendments to the Constitution;and what needs to be done to further promote LGBT rights.

Sergei Nikitin writes: The breaking up of the Queer Culture Festival

in 2006 was the formal impetus to create an organisation now known as theRussian LGBT Network. On Sunday Simon Cosgrove and I talked to one of itsfounders, Igor Kochetkov. It was a very interesting conversation in which Igortold us the story of how LGBT people's rights have come to be perceived as animportant component of human rights. This has happened in a relatively short time.I remember at the very beginning of my work for Amnesty International inRussia, some Amnesty activists expressed their disagreement with our positionon LGBT rights. Now, this area of work for human rights defenders attracts manynew people to Amnesty and is welcomed by very many. Paradoxically, it wouldseem, it was the shameful law of 2013 against 'Propaganda Among Minors ofNon-Traditional Sexual Relations’ that has led to this turnaround. A great dealhas been done by the Russian LGBT Network, and you can find out more about theorganisation and its work from their website: https://www.lgbtnet.org. In the meantime, listen to our podcast with the wonderful Igor Kochetkov.

This podcast is in Russian. You can also listen to it on SoundCloud (https://soundcloud.com/rightsinrussia/saymon-i-sergey-s-igorem-kochetkovym) Podcasts.com

(www.podcasts.com/simon-sergei-0b5d072c0), Spotify (open.spotify.com/show/7HdmvhzC2P6VQS8ijICNHZ)? Itunes(podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/simo…ei/id1495261418).

The music is from Stravinsky’s Elegy for Solo Viola, played

by Karolina Errera