Discrimination, homophobia and Russia’s crusade against “non-traditional sexual relationships” have helped fuel a worrying rise in hostility towards LGBTI human rights groups in parts of the former Soviet Union said Amnesty International, in a new report today.

‘Less equal: LGBTI human rights defenders in Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan’ explores the increasingly discriminatory environment that LGBTI rights groups in four former Soviet states have faced in recent years, including within the human rights community itself. In all four countries attitudes have hardened against LGBTI people, in part as a consequence of the repressive rhetoric and practices emanating from Moscow.

The governments of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, Russia’s closest partners in the region, have all embarked on a crackdown on LGBTI rights in recent years, the report shows.

All four countries have attempted to introduce homophobic “propaganda” laws, similar to the law in Russia.

Elsewhere, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan amended their Constitutions to explicitly preclude same-sex marriages in 2015 and 2016 respectively.

Freedom of association is limited for all LGBTI activists, and while in Armenia and Kyrgyzstan a small number of NGOs that work on LGBTI rights are registered, only activists and informal groups are active in Belarus and Kazakhstan.

“State authorities in Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan must ensure that LGBTI groups can carry out their human rights work in safety and without any discrimination,” said Denis Krivosheev, Deputy Director for Europe and Central Asia at Amnesty International.

“Amnesty International calls on human rights groups across the region to work alongside LGBTI rights organizations, united by the principle of the universality of human rights.”