Russian Publisher Individuum Closes After LGBTQ+ Extremism Cases

What happened to Individuum? The Russian book publisher announced on Monday, September 28, 2026, that it is closing. The Moscow Times reported the announcement after criminal prosecutions of the house's senior managers on so-called LGBTQ+ "extremism" charges. Meduza reported the same statement from the publisher's Telegram channel. Meduza's English text is its published translation of that Russian statement.

What the editor-in-chief said

"The publishing house Individuum, which was founded in 2015, will cease to exist 11 years later," editor-in-chief Alexei Kiselyov said in a statement on Monday, according to The Moscow Times. Meduza's translation spells his name Alexey Kiselev. He did not explain the reasons for the decision. The Moscow Times reports that he described the closure as "sudden, but not unexpected."

Meduza quotes a longer passage from the farewell message:

When we worked on books, we often talked with authors about how to shape the ending. Endings matter. They're hard to get right, and you have a responsibility to get them right. A good ending is one that everything before it in the book has made inevitable. As everyone knows, reality comes up with the best endings, the ones that make the most dramatic sense, all on its own. And that was how Individuum's story ended. As the great poet Alexander Vvedensky might have put it, the ending was sudden but not unexpected.

On the books already underway, Meduza quotes him: "The books we've been working on over the past few months will definitely come out. Other publishers will now release them. Keep an eye on the trade press for updates." The Moscow Times reports the same point: books Individuum has been working on in recent months will be released through other publishers.

Popcorn Books and Eksmo

Individuum's closure follows that of Popcorn Books. The Moscow Times describes Popcorn as Individuum's former young-adult imprint and says Russia's largest book publisher, Eksmo, shut it down in January. Eksmo acquired majority stakes in Popcorn Books and Individuum in 2023, the paper reports. Several Eksmo employees were arrested in May 2025 over alleged LGBTQ+ "propaganda" and "extremism," after which Eksmo appeared to distance itself from the imprints.

Meduza reports that in 2025, employees of Popcorn Books and Individuum were accused of "extremism" over queer literature, and that Popcorn Books announced its closure afterward.

The sentences, and a "foreign agent" label

The Moscow Times reports that three senior Individuum and Popcorn Books employees were sentenced to four-year suspended sentences this summer after being found guilty of LGBTQ+ "extremism." The charges stem from Russia's ban on the so-called "international LGBT movement" as an extremist organization.

Meduza names the three defendants in what it calls the "publishers' case," and says each received a four-year suspended prison sentence in 2026: former Popcorn Books employee Artyom Vakhlyaev, former Popcorn Books sales director Pavel Ivanov, and Individuum executive director Dmitry Protopopov.

Earlier this month, The Moscow Times reports, Russia's Justice Ministry designated former Individuum editor-in-chief Felix Sandalov as a "foreign agent."

Why it matters for authors

Authors with books already in production at Individuum were told those books will still come out, from other publishers, and were told to watch the trade press for which houses pick them up. The statement does not name those houses or give dates. The closure also sits next to suspended sentences for people who worked at Individuum and Popcorn Books, after prosecutions tied to LGBTQ+ literature. Writers with contracts at a house in that position are waiting on a transfer of the books, not on a plan published in the farewell note.

Sources

• The Moscow Times: Book Publisher Individuum Shuts Down After LGBTQ+ 'Extremism' Trials (September 28, 2026)
• Meduza: Russian publisher Individuum shuts down following queer literature crackdown (September 28, 2026)