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Right: Anna Popova
Anna Popova, the head of a Russian consumer protection agency, claimed the country is at no risk, implying it's because of the crackdown on LGBTQ+ people.
A Russian consumer protection official claims mpox won’t be a problem for the country because of its “traditional values” — that is, its hostility to LGBTQ+ people.
“Considering the specifics of how mpox is spread, I am absolutely sure that in Russia with its traditional values this disease, which is an epidemic disease, is not something we need to be afraid of,” Anna Popova, head of consumer watchdog agency Rospotrebnadzor, said in a video posted Monday on Russian Telegram channel Shot, as translated by Politico.
During the outbreak that began in 2022, mpox has been most commonly transmitted through sexual contact between gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men. That doesn’t mean other people are invulnerable to it.
The World Health Organization last week declared that mpox is once again a global health emergency, due to an outbreak of a severe strain, Clade I, in the Democratic Republic of Congo and neighboring countries in Africa. However, no cases of Clade I have been reported in the U.S., and the risk is very low here, according to the Department of Health and Human Services. HHS continues to recommend that those who are at high risk be vaccinated.
In declaring the emergency, World Health Organization Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that “a coordinated international response is needed to stop these outbreaks and save lives.” But Russian officials seem to think there’s no threat.
“Russia is taking all necessary measures to detect the infection ahead of time and systematically. … The situation is under constant control, there is no threat of the disease spreading in Russia,” Rospotrebnadzor announced last week.
In the video, Popova said there have been three cases of mpox overall in Russia. “For Russia this does not present a danger. … We’re not expecting it to spread, it won’t happen.”
Russia’s anti-LGBTQ+ measures include the “gay propaganda” law enacted in 2013, banning LGBTQ+ content in any venue accessible to minors. In 2022, it extended the ban to adults. Last year, the Russian Supreme Court granted a request from the country’s Ministry of Justice to label the “international LGBT social movement” as “extremist” and ban LGBTQ+ activism in the nation. The nation has outlawed gender-affirming surgery, and President Vladimir Putin has called the acceptance of transgender people a “crime against humanity.”
