Putin, and other Russian speakers, did not expect this. British consulates are authorized to perform same-sex marriages for English people in several countries, including Russia.
"I hope that when we start to see gay and lesbian couples getting married at the British consulate in Moscow, people will start to celebrate instead of denigrating and persecuting," said Chris Bryant, former foreign minister.
+ Russian activists will hold LGBT Pride parade even without government authorization
As expected, not all Russians were happy with the news. Deputy Vitaly Milonov was very unhappy with the marriage authorization. "British consulates can do whatever they want. Let them marry monkeys or register perverts, I don't care," he told The Moscow Times.
