Moscow Courts Ban Ads Saying Owners will Rent or Sell Only to Certain Ethnic or Religious Groups

Paul Gofble

            Staunton, Aug. 30 – Earlier this summer, a Moscow court prohibited advertisements limiting rentals or sales to Muslims (windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2025/08/moscow-court-prohibits-landlords-from.html). Now, another Moscow court has banned similar advertisements saying that properties will be rented or sold only to Slavs (tass.ru/nedvizhimost/24914489).

            Since the end of Soviet times, Russian landlords have routinely said in their advertisements that they won’t rent or sell to Roma, Muslims or non-Russians; and Russian officials have sought to ban the practice. More recently, Muslim landlords in Russian cities have followed suit and declared they will only rent or sell to other Muslims.

            Not surprisingly, Russian law enforcement moved more quickly to root out the first than the second; but it has now decided that failure to ban both types, at least on paper, will exacerbate ethnic and religious tensions and has brought these twin bans into line with one another.

            The courts have focused on advertising and especially advertising on the internet. That will help limit this form of racism. But realtors and those interested in renting or buying are likely to find that many owners continue to discriminate even if now they are no longer legally allowed to advertise what they are doing.

            For background on this form of racism, see windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2025/03/racism-on-rise-in-russia-as-moscow.html and the sources cited therein.