Russia

Catching up on this one. First, Putin gives an interview -- he seems to be on a damage control tour in advance of the Sochi Olympics next month. This is key:

Acts of protest and acts of propaganda are somewhat different things. They are close, but if we were to look at them from the legal perspective, then protesting a law does not amount to propaganda of sexuality or sexual abuse of children. That's one. Two is that I'd like to ask our colleagues, my colleagues and friends, that as they try to criticize us, they would do well to set their own house in order first. I did say, after all, and this is public knowledge, that in some of the states in the U.S., homosexuality remains a felony.

That last bit, of course, is not true: several states still have sodomy laws on the books, but they are unenforceable under the Supreme Court's decision in Lawrence v. Texas and don't think Putin doesn't know that. That's known as a diversion.

This is the tone of Putin's defense:

“Moreover, individuals of non-traditional orientation cannot feel like second-rate humans in this country because they are not discriminated against in any way,” a preposterous claim. “It has nothing to do with persecuting people for their non-traditional orientation,” Putin added. “My personal position is that society must keep children safe.”

"Save the Chiiildren!" Where have we heard that before?

Oh, and about the "acts of protest and acts of propaganda" bullshit:

Official Olympics representatives tackled a gay protester in Voronezh, Russia today for the “crime” of simply holding a rainbow flag as the Olympic flame went by.

UPDATE: AP confirms that it was “Olympic security personnel” in the photos.

Gay rights protester Pavel Lebedev was jumped on by agents of the Olympics, who were wearing an official Olympics uniform, with the Olympics rings on it and all, for holding up a rainbow flag along the road as the torchbearer went by.

Towleroad also has a story on this incident, which says that the protester was arrested by Russian police:

According to a post by Straight Alliance for LGBT Equality on the Russian social network VK, a protester was arrested in the Russian town of Voronezh as the Olympic torchbearer made his way through the city.

According to the report, police arrested Pavel Lebedev, who ran into the road with a rainbow flag. Lebedev was taken to the police station "to clarify the circumstances of the incident."

Here's a video of the Putin interview:

My own guess is that Putin's setting it up so he can keep his hands clean, but there will be arrests and incidents, and quite possibly violence, around the Sochi Games. Theres' already been an increase in anti-gay violence in Russia, and you can bet the government is turning a blind eye.