Chechyan LGBT activists urge governments to help them flee persecution in their Russian homeland

A brutal crackdown has resulted in gay men being 'rounded up, beaten and humiliated'

Russian LGBT protesters (PA)

Chechyan LGBT activists are urging governments to help gay men fleeing Russia fearing persecution because of their sexual identity.

Five countries are in talks with the Russia Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender Network, which has reported a wave of kidnappings, torture and disappearances in Chechnya, a semi-autonomous region in southern Russia that borders Georgia.

More than 100 people are said to have been abducted and tortured in a prison near the Chechyan city of Grozny, according to the investigative newspaper Novaya Gazeta.

Victims of the government crackdown are being targeted because they are gay or thought to be gay, it is claimed.

Officials in the Muslim majority region have denied the allegations and insisted that gay people “don’t exist” there.

The Russia LGBT Network hopes to persuade five countries, including two non-EU nations, to grant visas to dozens of people who have been forced into hiding in Russia. It did not name which countries had offered to help.

A spokesperson told the BBC: “They can’t stay in Russia for too long, we know it’s not safe for them to stay here.”

The group added that Theresa May’s government has not offered to help with visas, despite publicly condemning the violence.

Foreign Office officials said they were lobbying the Russian government to provide protections for the LGBT community, but said asylum claims must be made in Britain.

Lithuania has granted visas to two men and announced its involvement in the talks.

The country’s Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius told BBC reporters: “It’s very important to act, because they are suffering. We are taking care of Russian citizens... [whose] rights were abused.”

Seven other men have been granted visas in countries which have not been named.

The situation has attracted international condemnation from governments and groups including Human Rights Watch, who say victims have been “rounded up, beaten and humiliated.”

The International Criminal Court has also received a complaint from three gay rights groups in France who claim Chechyan policies amount to a genocide against gay people.

Head of the Chechen Republic Ramzan Kadyrov has denied any crackdown on gay people by saying that his province doesn’t have “non-traditional sexual orientation”.

Mr Kadyrov has also been accused of hunting his critics down – both within Russia and outside its borders – and the journalists who exposed the crackdown have left Russia for safety after they were labelled enemies of the country.

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced he will ask authorities to investigate the allegations.