You won't find these things in Russia. For this list, we’ll be looking at normal mundane activities, goods, and services that exist in America and the West but are reportedly banned in Vladimir Putin’s Russia or at least in some areas of it.
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00:00 It's very frightening living somewhere where it's illegal to just be yourself.
00:03 I don't want to live in fear."
00:05 Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the top 10 everyday things
00:11 that are banned in Russia.
00:17 For this list, we'll be looking at normal, mundane activities, goods, and services that
00:21 exist in America and the West but are reportedly banned in Vladimir Putin's Russia, or at
00:27 least in some areas of it.
00:29 Do you know of any other everyday acts that could earn someone a one-way trip to the Gulag?
00:34 Let us know in the comments below.
00:37 Number 10.
00:38 Yoga.
00:39 Although yoga has become a popular source of stretching and exercise in the West, it
00:43 originated as a spiritual practice in the East.
00:47 In 196 manuals called the Yoga Sutras, these texts defined yoga as the yoking or restraining
00:56 of the mind from focusing on external objects in efforts to reach a state of pure consciousness.
01:04 Yoga began as a Hindu and later Buddhist meditative practice in ancient India.
01:09 It's those origins that bothered Russian officials in the city of Nizhny Vartusk in
01:14 2015.
01:15 They sent letters to yoga studios throughout the city to cease and desist, citing the practices
01:21 as a way of spreading new religious cults.
01:24 The ban was ironic.
01:26 Russia co-sponsored International Yoga Day at the UN, and its Prime Minister, Dmitry
01:30 Medvedev, is known to practice yoga himself.
01:34 The international festival brings together 75 schools from all over Russia, teaching
01:39 this ancient Indian practice.
01:42 Number 9.
01:43 Lace Underwear.
01:45 People in Russia and its neighbours Kazakhstan and Belarus have spent almost a decade lingerie-free.
01:52 In July of 2014, all three countries enacted a set of safety regulations for underwear.
01:58 Local news in Kazakhstan reporting on a woman being detained for "demanding the right
02:04 to wear lace knickers."
02:06 "Why are you afraid of panties?" she shouts.
02:11 All clothing touching the skin, meaning underwear, must be at least 6% cotton for one's health.
02:17 Since most lacy lingerie tends to consist of less than 4% cotton, it's effectively
02:22 banned in Russia.
02:23 It will outlaw any underwear containing less than 6% of cotton from being imported, made,
02:31 or sold in the three countries.
02:32 While the countries claimed that the ban was not motivated by morality, some people didn't
02:38 buy it.
02:39 The Russian parliament at the time was 85% male and utterly conservative.
02:43 "But for many, it's yet another example of the misguided economic policies that have
02:49 become a trademark of many post-Soviet countries."
02:53 One party also attempted to follow up with another ban on high heels.
02:57 Number 8.
02:59 Sex Education.
03:00 For decades, religious right-wing forces around the world have fought sex education for minors.
03:06 In 2010, those forces won the battle in Russia.
03:10 The Russian Duma passed a law ostensibly meant to protect children from information harmful
03:16 to their health and development.
03:18 "In many situations, the arguments from science are not so effective as arguments from the
03:25 church.
03:26 But we think that it's better first to save life and then to save soul."
03:33 In reality, the law effectively ended sex education in the entire country.
03:37 The results?
03:38 Between 2017 and 2021, the number of Russians reporting a positive HIV status almost doubled
03:45 from 800,000 to 1.5 million.
03:48 "We didn't say that we have no problems with HIV.
03:52 We know that in fact we have problem, but we are trying to solve it."
03:58 There is widespread ignorance as to how the disease is transmitted, with a stigma reminiscent
04:03 of the 1980s in the United States.
04:05 Critics say these attitudes are partly why Russia is one of the few places on Earth where
04:10 HIV spread continues to increase at a rate of 10% every year.
04:16 7.
04:17 Certain Memes While speech has never exactly been free in
04:20 Russia, the internet has led the government to enact a series of crackdowns.
04:33 Social media led to an explosion of memes that allegedly infuriated President Putin,
04:38 especially those critical of the government.
04:47 In 2015, the country's censorship agency, Roskomnadzor, made millions of memes illegal
04:54 overnight.
04:55 Any meme that portrays a public figure in a derogatory or satirical light was banned.
05:00 Similarly, Russia also keeps a tight leash on popular and independent blogs.
05:05 If a blog gets more than 3,000 views per day, you'll fall under government censorship
05:19 regulations and must register with the state.
05:23 6.
05:24 Driving While Trans In 2014, Russia was dealing with a traffic
05:29 fatality crisis.
05:31 Russian roads are one of the deadliest places on Earth.
05:34 The Duma passed a law meant to combat traffic fatalities by regulating the distribution
05:38 of driver's licenses.
05:48 They listed a number of physical and mental conditions that would prevent a Russian individual
05:52 from driving.
05:54 One group added to the Russian "no drive" list were trans people.
06:07 In July 2023, the Russian Duma decided to follow their anti-LGBTQIA+ laws to their natural
06:15 conclusion.
06:16 They began the process to ban gender affirmation altogether.
06:29 5.
06:30 Swearing George Orwell once wrote, "If liberty means
06:34 anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear."
06:39 By Orwell's definition, liberty is sorely lacking in Putin's Russia.
06:43 In an attempt to stifle free speech, the Russian government targeted language in television,
06:48 theatre, and film in 2014.
06:57 Swearing is now illegal and subject to fines both for individuals and organizations.
07:02 Books that contain swears must have a warning label.
07:12 The law is a throwback to the Soviet-era laws meant to prevent Russians from following
07:16 the linguistic example of the decadent West.
07:33 4.
07:35 LinkedIn Authoritarian countries like Russia and China
07:38 have adapted to the internet age by tightening their iron grips on the public.
07:43 They've enacted strict rules about how websites and social media companies operate in their
07:56 countries.
07:57 In 2016, Roskomnadzor announced that the professional networking site LinkedIn would no longer be
08:03 allowed to operate in Russia at all.
08:06 Their rationale is all about personal information.
08:09 LinkedIn stores user data on servers that are not housed in Russia.
08:13 For Roskomnadzor, this is a big no-no.
08:16 They want user data to be stored within Russia, presumably for easy government access.
08:29 3.
08:30 Gay Propaganda Russian leaders have denounced the decadence
08:34 of Western values since the early days of the Soviet Union.
08:38 In the modern context, Putin and the Kremlin have used the LGBTQIA+ community as a scapegoat
08:45 and foil for what they consider to be their moral superiority.
09:04 Though the Russian government has been openly hostile to LGBTQIA+ people for years, they
09:09 have recently stepped up their laws.
09:11 The Russian parliament passed an anti-gay propaganda law in 2013 and strengthened it
09:24 in 2022.
09:26 Portraying non-cisgendered heterosexual lifestyles in anything other than a negative light is
09:31 now illegal, making gay pride a crime.
09:35 Pride events have been violently broken up by Russian police, leaving LGBTQIA+ Russians
09:41 with fewer rights than their neighbours.
09:55 2.
09:57 Drugs, including common prescriptions Despite being in a country notorious for
10:01 doping and sports, Russia has zero tolerance for their drugs.
10:05 Their anti-drug laws are some of the strictest in the world.
10:09 People with substance use disorders face long prison sentences as well as mandatory treatment.
10:14 The recent harsh sentence doled out to American WNBA star Brittany Greiner illustrated to
10:19 the West how harsh Russia's laws can be.
10:29 But in addition to cracking down on illegal narcotics like cocaine and heroin, some common
10:33 Western prescription drugs are also prohibited in Russia.
10:37 In the West, conditions like ADHD are often treated with medication like Adderall.
10:42 Unfortunately, Adderall contains amphetamines, which are not allowed at all in Russia.
10:47 "Operations like this are increasingly common since the creation of the state drug control
10:51 agency.
10:52 Every year there's an increase in the amount of drugs we confiscate."
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11:11 1.
11:13 Western Food Like European Cheese
11:16 Eight years before their full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russia took Crimea.
11:22 America and its European allies responded with a host of sanctions, many of which have
11:26 never been lifted.
11:27 Russia retaliated with sanctions of their own, denying a market to a number of Western goods
11:32 and services.
11:34 Western expats and Russian citizens have spent the better part of the decade without access
11:38 to American or European foodstuffs.
11:53 For example, steaks from the US and Australia are not allowed in Russia.
11:58 Neither are cheeses or wines from France.
12:00 As a result, food prices, especially after the 2022 round of sanctions on Russia, exploded.
12:28 -END-
12:33 (upbeat music)