In the Russian Federation, the LGBT movement is recognized as extremist and banned, so any sort of association or promotion can have serious legal consequences. A young migrant from Uzbekistan found this out the hard way after reviewing a women’s leather skirt on the Wildberries online marketplace.
In September 2025, the young man, known only as Islomjon, left a written review for a women’s leather skirt, along with a photo of himself wearing the garment. In the review, he wrote: “Great skirt! It conceals not only my figure flaws but even the fact that I’m a guy.”
The photo of Islomjon wearing a skirt did not, in fact, conceal his gender and was most likely posted as a joke, but Russian authorities did not find it very funny. Despite deleting his review and accompanying photo, the young migrant was apprehended and charged with “propaganda of non-traditional sexual preferences by disseminating (posting) information aimed at fostering non-traditional sexual attitudes and the attractiveness of non-traditional sexual relations.”
The offender reportedly admitted his guilt in court, but asked only to be fined for his mistake, and not deported, according to Russian law. Unfortunately for him, a court of law found no mitigating circumstances, and last month, he was sentenced to five days of administrative arrest, after which he was forcibly deported from the Russian Federation.
