Zakharova cited promotion of LGBT agenda as the reason for USAID's closure in Russia

The Agency for International Development (USAID) has been closed in Russia due to "significant efforts" to promote the LGBT agenda (the movement is recognized as extremist, banned in Russia). Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on February 4.

"Significant efforts were directed by the USAID leadership to promote specifically the LGBT agenda. Under [former U.S. President Barack] Obama, this topic became one of the key ones," she wrote in her Telegram channel.

Zakharova also drew attention to USAID's policy paper "Perspectives in LGBT - Action," which emphasizes the importance of fighting discrimination against people who support LGBT ideology.

On the same day, the White House published a list of the agency's most "ridiculous spending. " Among them is mentioned the delivery of "hundreds of thousands of meals" to the fighters of "al-Qaeda" (terrorist organization, banned in Russia) in Syria, $70 thousand for the staging of a musical in Ireland, as well as financing the printing of "personalized" contraceptives and birth control in developing countries.

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On February 3, American billionaire Ilon Musk announced the launch of a process to liquidate USAID. The entrepreneur also said that the agency was beyond recovery and should be gotten rid of.

At the same time, US President Donald Trump called the heads of USAID radical madmen. In a conversation with journalists, he said that his administration would decide on the future of the agency.