Russia does not recognize same-sex marriage or civil unions. Since 2020, the Russian Constitution has explicitly outlawed same-sex marriage. The Family Code of Russia also contains provisions forbidding same-sex marriages, which the Constitutional Court upheld as constitutional in 2006. Opinion polls have shown a decline in support for same-sex marriage in Russia. This declining trend has been attributed to anti-gay state propaganda, the 2013 gay propaganda law in particular, and growing anti-Western and traditionalist sentiment in Russia under Vladimir Putin.

Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, several same-sex couples attempted to marry at registry offices in Russia. The first known case occurred in 1994, but the couple were denied a marriage license and later fled to the United States. A highly mediatized case occurred in 2009 when a same-sex couple was denied a license in Moscow. In the case of Fedotova and Others v. Russia, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled that the Russian Government was violating Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights by not offering any form of legal recognition to same-sex relationships. However, a lawyer representing the plaintiff couple in this case said it was unlikely that "Russia would implement" the ruling. In addition, Russia was expelled from the Council of Europe on 16 March 2022 due to its invasion of Ukraine, and ceased to be a party to the ECHR on 16 September 2022.

Legal restrictions Article 1(3) of the Family Code of Russia (, ) bans same-sex marriage, stating: "Regulation of family relations must adhere to the principle of a voluntary union between a man and a woman […]." This ban was introduced in 1995. A 2006 judgement from the Constitutional Court of Russia upheld this statutory ban, and rejected claims that banning same-sex marriages was a violation of constitutional rights. Previously, the family law of the Soviet Union did not contain an explicit ban on same-sex marriages.

2020 constitutional amendments

Following the 2020 constitutional referendum, the Russian Constitution has explicitly banned same-sex marriage. The Moscow Times reported in March 2020, after the amendments had passed unanimously in the State Duma, "The 67-year-old Putin, who has dominated Russia for 20 years, has sought to cast himself as a defender of traditional values and rally support by promoting anti-Western and conservative ideas. Putin's fourth stint in the Kremlin has seen a strong pivot to more conservative policies, with groups promoting fundamentalist Orthodox Christian views gaining more legitimacy and liberal viewpoints attacked as Moscow's relations with the West have soured." The referendum, which also allowed Putin to serve as president until 2036, was criticized by international observers claiming widespread irregularities including voter coercion, multiple voting, violation of secrecy of the vote and allegations of police violence against a journalist who was present to observe.

Article 72 of the Constitution now reads:

Recognition of marriages performed abroad

Russian citizens can register a same-sex marriage in countries whose laws allow it for foreigners, such as Argentina, Iceland, Norway, Portugal or South Africa. According to article 158 of the Family Code, marriages concluded abroad are recognized in Russia, unless explicitly outlawed by article 14 of the Code, which prohibits marriage between close relatives, and between adoptive parents and adopted children. As a result, the recognition of same-sex marriage in Russia remains a controversial issue among lawyers. Some argue that foreign same-sex marriages can be recognized in Russia. Other jurists and authorities refer to article 167 of the Code, which states: "The norms of foreign family law do not apply if such application would contradict the fundamentals of the legal order (public order) of the Russian Federation. In this case, the legislation of the Russian Federation shall apply." Thus, they argue that same-sex marriages contracted abroad cannot be recognized in Russia.

A test case for the recognition of foreign marriages occurred in January 2018 when Pavel Stotsko and Evgenii Voitsekhovskii, who had married in Denmark on 4 January 2018, were indirectly acknowledged by Russian authorities as married on their passports. However, the couple later fled Russia citing threats to their liberty and security, and the official who stamped their passports was dismissed. The Ministry of Internal Affairs also declared the passports invalid, and a court case accusing the couple of "intentional damage to official documents" was filed in court. The police issued a statement that it would not protect the couple from homophobic vigilantes. Another case occurred in June 2020, when Igor Kochetkov received a tax deduction from the Federal Taxation Service under the health insurance scheme of his husband Kirill Fedorov, whom he married in the United States in 2017.

On 14 October 2020, a bill was submitted to the Federal Assembly to explicitly ban the recognition of foreign marriages which contravene the "fundamental laws of order and morality", including same-sex marriages. The government announced its opposition to the bill on 20 October, and it was not approved.

Recognition of marriages of transgender people

The Family Code does not explicitly ban marriages to transgender people. Thus, de facto same-sex marriages are theoretically possible in Russia if one of the spouses is transgender; marriages are only possible if both spouses are of the opposite legal sex. On 7 November 2014, Irina Shumilova and Alyona Fursova were married in Saint Petersburg, exploiting this legal loophole as Shumilova had not completed a legal gender change and was still legally a man. Both spouses wore wedding dresses at the ceremony. News of the marriage was leaked to the media, despite the couple not wanting to go public. Employees of the registry office which conducted the marriage said they had "fully complied" with the marriage laws of Russia as Shumilova and Fursova were legally of the opposite sex. A similar case had occurred a few months prior, when Alina Davis, 23, and Alison Brooks, 19, had applied to marry in a registry office on Kutuzovsky Prospekt in Moscow. The application was accepted as Davis was legally a man.

These two cases led MP Vitaly Milonov to introduce legislation banning "inappropriate clothing" at marriages, but the bill was not passed. In 2015, MPs Aleksey Zhuravlyov, Anatoly Greshnevikov and Dmitri Gorovstov proposed legislation explicitly banning marriages if one of the spouses has completed or intended to complete a sex change procedure. The bill was rejected by a parliamentary committee on the basis that it would be "impossible" to organize gender checks of all newlyweds. In July 2023, President Vladimir Putin signed into law a bill banning transgender people from modifying their legal gender on official documents and annulling marriages in which one spouse had completed a legal gender change. Transgender people may still be able to marry if they have not completed a legal gender change and if their partner is of the opposite legal sex.

Federal subject constitutional bans and laws Same-sex marriage is constitutionally banned in all the republics of Russia: Adygea, Altai, Bashkortostan, Buryatia, Chechnya, Chuvashia, Crimea, Dagestan, Ingushetia, Kabardino-Balkaria, Kalmykia, Karachay-Cherkessia, Karelia, Khakassia, Komi, Mari El, Mordovia, North Ossetia–Alania, Sakha, Tatarstan, Tuva, and Udmurtia. Their constitutions define marriage as "the voluntary union of a woman and a man". Many were amended in the aftermath of the 2020 constitutional referendum, which also modified the Russian Constitution to ban same-sex marriages. Previously, their constitutions did not contain an explicit ban on same-sex marriages and either did not address the issue or defined marriage as "based on the voluntary consent and equality of the spouses". Same-sex marriage is also banned by law in the Jewish Autonomous Oblast.

Marriage is a legislative power of the Russian Parliament. Republics may enact their own family laws provided they do not conflict with the federal Family Code, which is the primary source of family law in Russia. Article 1(4) of the Family Code of the Republic of Tatarstan (; ) defines marriage as the "union of a man and a woman". Similarly, article 1(3) of the Family Code of the Republic of Bashkortostan (; ) states that "family relations are based on the voluntary union of a man and a woman". The Family Code of the Donetsk People's Republic (), a contested republic annexed by Russia in 2022, also defines marriage as the "marital union of a man and a woman".

Immigration rights In 2016, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled that Russia had violated the rights of a Kazakh man who lived with his Russian same-sex partner in Yekaterinburg. The man had lived with his partner for several years but as a non-Russian national was not permitted to remain in the country indefinitely. Immigration officials had refused to issue the plaintiff a residence permit recognizing his stable cohabitation with a Russian citizen. While lower courts refused to issue him a permit, the ECHR ruled that their relationship was protected by the right to private life and family life guaranteed by the European Convention of Human Rights.

Registered partnerships Russia does not recognize registered partnerships (, , ), which would offer a subset of the rights, benefits and obligations of marriage for opposite-sex or same-sex couples. In 2018, some lawmakers introduced legislation to recognize opposite-sex registered partnerships. However, the bill was rejected due to concerns that it could in the future lead to the recognition of same-sex unions.

In 2016, the social-liberal Yabloko party adopted a party platform supporting civil partnerships. While running in the 2018 presidential election, Ksenia Sobchak expressed her support for civil unions.

Same-sex marriage

Background Historical research has shown that during the time of the Russian Empire in the early 20th century, when homosexuality was still outlawed and same-sex relationships were taboo, some couples established "marriage contracts" and lived together in joint households. One couple, Nikolay Polyakov and Stepan Minin, were known to have lived together until 1933 when they were arrested in an anti-gay purge organized by Soviet authorities. In 1922, Evgenia Fyodorovna, dressing as a man and having forged fake identity documents, married her partner in Saint Petersburg. Authorities soon discovered that Fyodorovna was in fact a woman and opened a criminal case against the couple, accusing them of a "crime against nature". The People's Commissariat of Justice later ruled the marriage "legal, as concluded by mutual consent". After Joseph Stalin came to power in 1924, oppression of LGBT people increased and same-sex unions between men were re-criminalized. Despite this, attempts to register same-sex marriages continued. In 1965, a woman known only by her initials O.A. forged a passport with a male name and married her partner. Similarly, in the 1970s, Olga Krause married her partner in Saint Petersburg after having forged a fake passport.

In the early 1990s, activists including Evgenia Debryanskaya and Roman Kalinin began calling for the legalization of same-sex marriage in Russia. In April 1994, Slava Mogutin and his partner Robert Filippini applied to marry at a registry office in Moscow. Although the director of the office was sympathetic, she said she could not by law perform the marriage. This made the couple the target of highly publicized criminal cases, carrying potential prison sentences of up to 7 years' imprisonment. The couple later fled and filed for political asylum in the United States.

Early marriage registrations in 2003–2005