Pavel Ivanov spent years helping publish LGBTQ-themed books in Russia. In court, he called himself a lifelong hunter of ‘perverts’ and walked away with a suspended sentence.

In May 2025, three employees of Popcorn Books — a publisher of young adult fiction — were detained in Moscow. They were charged in connection with the distribution of LGBT literature — specifically, the publication of the novel “Leto v pionerskom galstuke” (“Summer in a Pioneer Tie”) by Yelena Malisova and Katerina Silvanova. The defendants spent nearly a year under house arrest before it was eased to a restriction on certain activities. In June 2026, one of the three — former sales director ...