MOSCOW, Nov 17 — Russia today fined a music TV channel for violating controversial legislation banning "gay propaganda” being shown to under-18s.

A court in Moscow said in a statement that it had fined the Russian channel Muz-TV one million rubles (RM58,000). 

The Roskomnadzor media regulator had earlier launched a probe into the channel over a June award show that featured two male pop stars clad in black and white tuxedos arriving at the red carpet in a limousine adorned with flowers and trailed by a dozen shirtless men.

Last month Roskomnadzor said it had found violations during the broadcast associated with the "demonstration of materials promoting non-traditional sexual relations”. 

Russia’s 2013 law banning "gay propaganda” for minors requires that LGBT content be labelled "18+” and can be shown on TV only after 11:00 pm. 

In June, Roskomnadzor said the broadcast had displayed a "6+” tag.

The show also featured a male blogger in a dress and another in a half-dress, half-tuxedo.

Although Russia decriminalised homosexuality in 1993, general intolerance towards the LBGT community is prevalent in the country, fuelled by government policies.

Last year, Russia added a phrase to its constitution saying that marriage is the union of a man and a woman.

Muz-TV was founded in 1996 and largely modelled on MTV. — AFP