Exclusive: Sochi’s Gays Had Protection From the Mayor Who Claimed They Don’t Exist
In early January, about a month before the Winter Olympics in Sochi began, Andrei Tanichev, the owner of the city’s only gay nightclub, got a call from the local government summoning him to a meeting with the mayor. It did not sound promising. Just a few days earlier, a special security regime known as the “ring of steel” had put Sochi authorities on high alert for any Olympic disruptions. And although Tanichev is a businessman, not an activist, Russia’s new law against homosexual “propaganda” among minors had thrust his cabaret into a legal gray zone. He went into the meeting prepared for the worst.
