Foreign Ministers of five EU countries urge to defend gays' rights in Chechnya

A collective letter with a request to influence the situation with the persecution of gays in Chechnya was sent to Sergey Lavrov, the Russia's Foreign Minister, by his colleagues from Great Britain, Sweden, the Netherlands, France and Germany.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on April 24, Federica Mogherini, the supreme representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs, stated, at her meeting with Sergey Lavrov, the need to protect the gays' rights in Chechnya. On May 2, Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, called on Russian President to ensure the respect of sexual minorities' rights.

"We urge the Russian authorities to conduct investigations in connection with these terrible accusations and guarantee the safety of activists and journalists who deal with this issue," the letter says.

The letter emphasizes that it is necessary "to stop all possible harassments of members of the LGBT community in Chechnya," the "Agence France-Presse" reports.

In her turn, Maria Zakharova, Director of the Department of Information and Press of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) said that the MFA had not received the letter.

However, Jean-Marc Ayrault, the French Foreign Minister, has confirmed, in his Twitter, that the letter was sent to the Russia's MFA.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.