Law enforcement stormed Russian publishing house Eksmo’s main office on April 21, confiscating thousands of physical books and taking CEO Yevgeny Kapyev in for interrogation. Police are now suspecting Eksmo and multiple of its senior staff members of illegally marketing and distributing books “dealing with LGBT themes.” In addition to the CEO, the publishing company’s heads of finance and distribution, as well as a deputy commercial director, were all subjected to questioning.

The incident is preceded by a raid on multiple Russian publishing houses, including Eksmo, just under a year ago. A minimum of 10 employees were detained during the search, with three of them being placed under house arrest in connection with the distribution of LGBTQ+ literature. Russian officials were specifically concerned about Popcorn Books and Individuum, two imprints that had been recently acquired by Eksmo, which published titles related to queer stories and political criticism, respectively.

Eksmo’s alleged offences have been labelled as “criminal extremism” by Russian officials. Books that the publishing house was suspected of distributing were two titles by authors Elena Malisova and Katerina Silvanova. The young adult novels Pioneer Summer and its sequel, Silence of the Swallow, both feature queer relationships.

Following the raid on Tuesday, Eksmo contacted bookstores and provided a list of book titles that they should remove from their inventory. Pioneer Summer was included on the list, alongside the frequently-banned LGBTQ+ classic, Call Me By Your Name. Other Russian publishing houses have been reported to be doing the same regarding queer books.

President and founder of Eksmo, Oleg Novikov, has previously criticised Russia’s oppressive censorship laws, stating that more than half of all books would be removed from libraries and bookstores if they strictly adhered to every law. Censorship in Russia extends beyond LGBTQ+ material, with any book related to people or groups deemed “undesirable” a possible target. As Russia’s largest and most influential publishing house, Eksmo remains vulnerable to interference from the Russian government as they continue to try to silence the country’s queer voices.