The new OSCE/ODIHR data shows something very clear and very worrying. In Russia, Belarus and Azerbaijan, hate crimes against LGBT+ people are used as a tool of control.
These governments are moving from passive authoritarian rule to active, totalitarian governance, where police and other state bodies are directly involved in violence and forced exile.
Russia
In the Russian Federation, the state has stopped reporting official hate crime data since 2020. Civil society records show that anti-LGBT+ incidents are the largest group of hate crimes, making up more than two thirds of 212 monitored cases in 2024.
Police officers are not only failing to protect LGBT+ people. They are taking part in abductions, raids, severe beatings, extortion and fake-date traps, especially against gay men and trans or non-binary people.
Belarus
In Belarus, the government has not shared any official hate crime data since 2015. This blackout hides a systematic, state-led campaign against LGBT+ communities.
Most reported cases target trans people, with law enforcement again named as key perpetrators. Survivors describe physical violence, threats, kidnappings, humiliation and pressure to give forced “confessions” about their gender identity.
Azerbaijan
In Azerbaijan, the state does send some hate crime data to international bodies, but almost nothing is known about what happens in court. For example, police recorded 32 homicides with bias motivation in 2024, yet there is no information about any sentences.
ODIHR notes that the legal system does not properly recognize hate motives, which makes punishment even weaker. Civil society reports only a few cases, including anti-LGBT+ incidents, but this is not because there is little violence. It is because many LGBT+ people are too afraid to report, trapped in a climate of fear that protects perpetrators.
