President Obama today met with a number of Russian political activists, some of them from that nation's embattled LGBT communities, after participating in the G20 Summit in St. Petersburg this week.
Obama invoked his history as a community organizer before heading into the meeting. "I'm now in government, but I got my start as a community organizer, somebody who was working in what would be called an NGO in the international community," Obama said. "And the work I was doing was helping poor communities have a voice in what was happening in their lives. And I got elected as President by engaging people at a grassroots level. So the kinds of activities that are represented here are critically important to Russia's development, and I'm very proud of their work."
Among the nine activists present for the meeting were Igor Kochetkov of LGBT Network and Olga Lenkova of Speaking Out, according to a White House statement.
The talks came during a time of strained relations between the Obama Administration and the Russian Federation. The U.S. government has a pending extradition request for NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, who has been living under temporary asylum in Russia. So far Russia has refused to grant the request, saying Snowden committed no crime on Russian soil. Furthermore Obama has been lobbying for military intervention against the Syrian government, with whom Russia has very strong ties.
Obama has also denounced the Russian anti-gay legislation but has not endorsed a boycott of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.
"One of the things I'm really looking forward to is maybe some gay and lesbian athletes bringing home the gold or silver or bronze, which I think would go a long way in rejecting the kind of attitudes that we're seeing there," said at a press conference in August. "And if Russia doesn't have gay or lesbian athletes, then it probably makes their team weaker."