Elton John performs at the Glastonbury Festival, 25 June 2023. Photo: EPA-EFE / ADAM VAUGHAN
The Elton John AIDS Foundation (EJAF) has warned that a decision to label it an “undesirable organisation” and thus effectively ban it from working in Russia would “undoubtedly endanger lives” and impede “critical HIV prevention efforts for ordinary Russian citizens”.
The foundation, which was set up by the British superstar in 1992 to support HIV prevention, education programmes, direct care and support services for people living with HIV, has been working in Russia for over 20 years “to provide hundreds of thousands of people with vital HIV services, including testing, treatment, and care”, Mary Pavlu, a spokesperson for the EJAF, told Novaya Gazeta Europe.
“We are devastated by the decision of the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation, which will prevent the Foundation from providing lifesaving care to people living with HIV in Russia,” Pavlu added.
Under a decade-old Russian law, any organisation that falls foul of the Kremlin can simply be classed an “undesirable” organisation, compelling it to cease all work and dissolve itself as a legal entity in Russia. Other organisations that have received the designation include the World Wildlife Fund, Greenpeace International and Novaya Gazeta Europe.
Since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Russians with HIV have experienced significant disruptions in the availability of HIV medication, while HIV infections have risen steeply, with independent media outlet Verstka reporting that the rate of new HIV diagnoses was 20 times higher in the military than it was before the war.
At the same time, the Kremlin’s intensified crackdown on the LGBTQ community — including tightening a law on so-called “LGBT propaganda” and a Supreme Court ruling deeming the “international LGBT movement” to be “extremist” — has forced queer individuals further underground, making it harder for them to seek medical care.
As of late 2023, 1.2 million Russians were confirmed to be living with HIV, according to Rospotrebnadzor, the federal agency for consumer rights protection and human well-being, at least 430,000 of whom are not receiving treatment, according to the EJAF.
“At a time when we have the tools and knowledge to defeat HIV, it is heartbreaking to be unable to support them,” Pavlu said.
