Obama To Meet With LGBT Activists While In Russia

http://www.buzzfeed.com/maxseddon/obama-to-meet-with-russian-activists-on-g20-sidelines

After canceling a bilateral summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin while there for the G20 summit, Obama may anger the Kremlin further by meeting with Russian activists — including from LGBT groups.

Following his cancellation of a bilateral meeting with President Vladimir Putin, U.S. President Barack Obama may infuriate the Kremlin further by meeting Russian human rights activists, including LGBT rights groups, during his upcoming trip to St Petersburg for the G20 summit.

Four Russian non-governmental organizations told BuzzFeed Monday they had been invited to the meeting, scheduled for this Thursday at St. Petersburg’s Crowne Plaza Hotel. The groups include veteran human rights activists Lev Ponomarev and Lyudmila Alexeyeva, legal aid NGO director Pavel Chikov, and Coming Out, a St. Petersburg-based LGBT organization. Another local LGBT group, the LGBT Network, is believed to be attending, though director Igor Kochetkov declined to comment to BuzzFeed, saying that he had been “asked not to say anything.”