A new Russian website encourages users to upload photos of people they accuse of being gay, giving information about where to find them, with which organisers will create a database for a ‘game’ in which gay people are to be hunted.

In the week since the launch of the website, allegedly called ‘Saw’ after the torture film franchise, at least three men have contacted the Russia LGBT Network to say they had been violently assaulted.

“This is terrifying,” Mikhail Tumasov, chairperson of the Russia LGBT Network, told Gay Star News.

“I’ve never seen anything like this. The killing and torturing of gay people, they call it a game.”

The ‘game’ is targeting people in the province of Ufa, in south-east Russia, from May 1 to 31. People wanting to ‘play’ can access the names and information about where they live for a fee of 200 Rubles (€2.50).

If your name is in the database, you can pay the much larger fee of 1500 Rubles (€30) to have it removed.

The homepage for the site declares that this is ‘Chechnya’s Comeback’, referring to last year’s mass arrest, torture, and execution of gay men in the Northern Caucus.

Tumasov says the people behind ‘Saw’ organizers might target people coming to the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

“Some of the fans could be simply LGBT friendly, they don’t have to be gay, they could be straight and could behave freely. And if there is suspicion they might be followed,” he said.

Tumasov’s advice for World Cup attendees is the same advice he’s giving to LGBT+ people in Russia.

‘Be very careful about online invitations to date, make sure you have a friend coming with you if you are meeting someone online for the first time,’ he says.