Media figure Ksenia Sobchak announced on Wednesday that she removed a recent interview from her well-known YouTube channel after receiving a warning from Russia’s state media authority, which indicated that the content may have included elements of “LGBT propaganda.”

The interview, released in early September, featured openly gay Russian-born artist and blogger Sergei Grigoryev-Apollonov, who is better known by his artistic name, Grey Wiese.

During the discussion, the 44-year-old Paris-based musician talked about experiences with homophobia in his home region of Saratov and shared insights about his life in Europe.

In her Telegram message regarding the “forced removal” of the interview, Sobchak included the warning from the Russian regulator Roskomnadzor, expressing regret but asserting the necessity to adhere to Russian laws. The specific elements that were flagged were not clarified.

This incident follows the ruling by the Russian Supreme Court in November 2023, which labeled the so-called “international LGBT movement” as an extremist organization, paving the way for stringent measures against LGBT-related expressions.

“There are currently very few enforcement actions under this law as it pertains to media, and legal interpretations vary significantly,” Sobchak noted.

While the complete interview is no longer accessible on Sobchak’s YouTube channel, several short clips featuring Grigoryev-Apollonov were still available as of Wednesday evening.

In subsequent remarks to the exiled media outlet TV Rain, Grigoryev-Apollonov expressed astonishment that the interview was initially published, but he countered the assertion that it was propaganda.

With 1.5 million followers on Instagram, Grigoryev-Apollonov is related to pop singer Andrei Grigoryev-Apollonov from the group Ivanushki International, which gained fame in the late 1990s. His work predominantly revolves around music and his personal life, rather than political issues.