On April 5, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed into law a series of constitutional amendments that, among other things, formally defines marriage as between a man and a woman in the country, The Washington Blade reported.
The Associated Press reported approximately 78 percent of Russian voters backed the amendments in a referendum that took place last July.
Russian LGBTQ-rights activist Mikhail "Misha" Tumasov emailed the Blade that the law that Putin signed "emphasizes recent changes in the constitution" that include an "adopted formula of a family exclusively as a union of a man and a woman which wasn't in the constitution and gave hope to introduce same sex marriages on that legal base. There is no need for any other legal actions, as same-sex marriages are de jure illegal."
In 2013, Putin sparked global outrage when he signed a statute that bans the promotion of so-called gay propaganda to minors.
In 2014, his own nearly 30-year marriage to Lyudmila Putin ended. That same year, the LGBTQ publication The Advocate named Putin its Person of the Year, stating, "Driving the governmental, religious and popular disdain for gays and lesbians, the Russian president became the single greatest threat to LGBTs in the world."