Watch: Russia Cracks Down on Gay Couple, TikTok Stars

Russia has cracked down on a same-sex couple who are TikTok influencers, using the recently expanded "Don't Say Gay" law to justify arresting them and potentially deporting one of them, according to Newsweek.

Speaking to Newsweek, 23-year-old Gela Gogishvili, a Russian citizen, explained what happened. "The couple had their seemingly peaceful Wednesday upended at about 1 p.m. local time, when police stopped them and they were escorted to the local police station to be charged under the 'gay propaganda law,'" Newsweek recounted.

"We were very scared," Gogishvili told the outlet, adding that the situation "became a living hell" for the couple.

His partner, 21-year-old Haoyang Xu, a Chinese national, remains in detention after being tried the day after his arrest and "found guilty of positively portraying 'non-traditional sexual relationships to minors,'" the original justification of Russia's anti-LGBTQ+ law, which was passed in 2013.

The law was expanded late last year, as Russia continued its protracted war against neighboring democracy Ukraine. The 2022 version of the law criminalizes any public expression of acceptance or support for LGBTQ+ relationships, and any depiction of such relationships, regardless of whether those who might see and hear such expressions are children or adults.

The couple face imminent separation, the article said, noting that "Xu has been taken to a detention center for migrants where he will stay for seven days before being deported to China."

"Gogishvili will face court on Thursday and could be fined between 100,000-200,000 rubles ($1,237-$2,474)," the article went on to say. "He told Newsweek the couple plan to appeal Xu's sentence."

The "crime" committed by the couple?

They "share their daily lives as a couple in Kazan in the country's southwest," Newsweek detailed.

Vladimir Komov of the Moscow-based advocacy group DELO LGBT+ explained their criminal offenses more fully to Newsweek: "They do TikToks about their everyday life as a gay couple, how they do chores, how they wash the dishes, how they communicate and only share a few romantic moments such as kissing ... and some cuddling."

"They have a combined total of 740,000 followers on TikTok and 64,900 subscribers on YouTube," Newsweek noted.

Gogishvili said the couple face "no serious abuse" from Russian police, but Newsweek detailed how officers "prevented the couple from speaking to lawyers and 'pressured' them into signing a range of documents."

"They refused to and got into an argument with police," the account added, "but because the men still had their phones they were able to rally their thousands of supporters to call the station and convince officers to let them speak to a lawyer."

"I'm holding in tears because I don't have time to cry right now," Gogishvili told Newsweek, "saying police have now confiscated Xu's phone and he has no idea how his boyfriend is holding up."

The Russian citizen also said "that he was taking food and medication to Xu, in the hope police would give it to him," the report added.

Newsweek noted that the men's arrest took place after an informant provided information about their whereabouts to police. Their lawyer said that "police started searching for the men in March and went around to pharmacies in the city trying to find where Gogishvili worked," the account detailed.

"Police said to them they would only get a fine and nothing serious would happen," Komov related, "but of course it was a lie."

In an April 1 YouTube video, the couple explained they had been in hiding and not posting new content because "xenophobes, homophobes, racists, and the Russian police hunted us..." Moreover, they faced threats from "well-known right-wing homophobic communities... with such wonderful names as - OTG, 'Civil Society,' 'The First Moral Russian Front,' 'Parents of Russia,'" as well as officials like "deputy Alexander Khinstein," a journalist and politician who pushed for the expansion of Russian's "Don't Say Gay" law, declaring that sexual minorities are "an element of hybrid warfare and in this hybrid warfare we must protect our values, our society and our children."

Watch the couple's video below.