Samvel Avakyan

Affiliated media: Sport24, Editor-in-chief

Incident date: July 10, 2025

Attack type:

• Court trial

Who attacked: Authorities

Source: Verstka

Location: Russia, Moscow, Moscow

Additional information:

Samvel Avakyan, editor-in-chief of Sport24, was fined 200,000 rubles (approximately €2,030–€2,040) under provisions on “LGBT propaganda” (Parts 3 and 4 of Article 6.21 of the Code of Administrative Offenses). The case was heard by the magistrate's court of District No. 374 in Moscow’s Central District. The fine stemmed from a news article published on April 29 about Czech speed skater Martina Sablikova, who publicly discussed her relationship with teammate Nikola Zdražalová. Officials from the Main Radio Frequency Center, subordinate to Roskomnadzor, claimed that the publication allegedly “creates a distorted view of the social equivalence of traditional and non-traditional sexual relationships.” The article has since been deleted.