Madonna and Lady Gaga Accused of Breaking Russian Visa Rules

One has to wonder how one successfully prosecutes someone for a visa rule violation long after they have left your country.  One also has to wonder if anti-gay politicians in Russia have lost their minds in attacking international figures like Madonna and Lady Gaga in the context of the already raging controversy over Russia's state sanctioned persecution of gays prior to the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi.  The bellicose behavior may play well with lunatics of the Russian Orthodox Church, but it sure isn't going to calm the nerves of the spineless International Olympic Committee.  The Guardian has details on the ongoing insanity and anti-anti-gay jihad in Russia.  Here are details:

Russian officials are considering prosecution against Lady Gaga and Madonna after discovering they entered the country under incorrect paperwork.

The office of Russia's prosecutor general has issued a statement confirming that neither singer obtained an appropriate visa prior to performing there last year. Madonna, who played in August 2012, and Gaga, who appeared in December, travelled under cultural-exchange visas. These documents "do not grant their bearers the right to engage in any commercial activity," authorities said. According to the Russian legal information agency, prosecutors are now considering asking Russia's foreign ministry or federal migration service to press charges.

As any foreigner who has visited Moscow will know, Russian immigration can be extremely complicated. But Gaga and Madonna's mistakes weren't just discovered by accident: prosecutors launched their investigation only after being contacted by one of the singers' most outspoken enemies.

The man in question was Vitaly Milonov, who serves in St Petersburg's municipal legislature and authored St Petersburg's law banning gay "propaganda" – a model for recent legislation passed by the Duma. After Gaga and Madonna spoke in support of LGBT issues at their 2012 concerts, Milonov tried to pursue them in court for "promoting sodomy, lesbianism, bisexuality and transgenderism among minors". These claims were unsuccessful.

Russian entertainment promoters worry that the prosecutors' announcement could have a chilling effect on future tours by western performers, as well as tourism for this winter's Sochi Games. "Not one artist, circus or exhibition will come here if the prosecutor's office fines someone now," Yevgeny Finkelstein, a promoter in St Petersburg, told RIA Novosti.

One can only assume that Russian politicians want to return Russia to the status of a destination to be avoided as in the bad old days of the Soviet Union.  When it comes to spinning PR and the news media, I'd put my money on Madonna and Lady Gaga rather than fat homophobes in Moscow and St. Petersburg.