An image of President Vladimir Putin wearing heavy make-up has been banned in Russia after justice ministry officials classified it as "extremist material".
Item 4,071, which depicts Putin "with eyes and lips made up, hints at the supposed nonstandard sexual orientation of the president of the Russian Federation", says Russia's Federal List of Extremist Material.
Anyone in Russia who publishes or displays the image will now fall foul of Article 282, a "controversial ban on hate speech, which carries a five-year maximum prison sentence", says the Moscow Times.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.
Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.
Latest Videos FromThe Week
"Gay" Putin memes have multiplied as Moscow has cracked down on sexual liberties and online speech in recent years, the Washington Post says, adding that "Russian news outlets are having trouble reporting exactly which image of the Internet's many Putin-gay-clown memes is now illegal to share".
The Moscow Times says the ban stems from a decision in May 2016 by the Central Regional Court of Tver to ban more than a dozen images uploaded to the social network Vkontakte by a man named AV Tsvetkov. They include the make-up picture, which has been dubbed the "gay clown" image.
Tsvetkov was tried and ordered to receive psychiatric care.
