US-Russia summit: Rights protest shines light on Chechnya

Gay rights activists welcomed US President Donald Trump to his summit with Russia's Vladimir Putin by emblazoning their message across the walls of Finland's presidential palace. The US-based Human Rights Campaign used the Helsinki venue to draw attention to the plight of sexual minorities in Chechnya, the autonomous Russian republic run by Putin's autocratic ally Ramzan Kadyrov. Reporters and officials gathered in Helsinki for Monday's summit saw the slogans above the harbour-front venue. One of the slogan read: 'Trump and Putin: Stop the Crimes Against Humanity in Chechnya.' Activists say lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people face discrimination in Russia, particularly in Muslim-majority Chechnya, where Kadyrov's government is accused of jailing and torturing gay men. The Human Rights Campaign also criticizes Trump's US administration for allegedly having failed to speak out on LGBT rights in Russia while trying to set up the summit and mend frayed ties with the Kremlin. "Trump has unconscionably turned a blind eye to some of the worst anti-LGBTQ atrocities in a generation, including monstrous attacks on gay and bisexual men in Chechnya," said Ty Cobb, Director of HRC Global. "HRC is here in Helsinki to demand Donald Trump end his deafening silence, publicly condemn these Chechen crimes against humanity, and call on Putin to investigate and bring the perpetrators to justice." Trump and Putin were to meet one-on-one later Monday before giving a joint news conference to conclude the one-day summit.