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A crackdown on LGBTQ rights in Russia has persisted for more than a decade, with a series of legislation being introduced targeting what the Kremlin refers to as “gay propaganda” since 2013.

But after ordering the invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Moscow has ramped up a campaign against what it called the West’s “degrading” influence, in what rights advocates saw as an attempt to legitimise the war.

Now, the first publicly known cases have emerged of Russian authorities penalising people under a court ruling that outlawed LGBTQ activism as extremism, according to Russian media and rights groups.

At least three people who displayed rainbow-coloured items have been jailed or fined.

The supreme court ruling in November banned what the government called the LGBTQ “movement” operating in Russia and described it as an extremist organisation.

The ruling was part of a crackdown on LGBTQ people in the increasingly conservative country, where “traditional family values” have become a cornerstone of Vladimir Putin’s 24-year rule.

Russian laws prohibit public displays of symbols of extremist organisations, and LGBTQ rights advocates have warned that those displaying rainbow-coloured flags or other items might be targeted by the authorities.

On Monday, a court in Saratov, a city 453 miles southeast of Moscow, handed a 1,500-rouble (£13) fine to artist and photographer Inna Mosina over several Instagram posts depicting rainbow flags, Russia’s independent news site Mediazona reported.

The case contained the full text of the Supreme Court ruling, which named a rainbow flag the “international” symbol of the LGBTQ “movement”.

Ms Mosina and her defence team maintained her innocence, according to the reports. She said the posts were published before the ruling, at a time when rainbow flags were not regarded by authorities as extremist, and her lawyer said a police report about her alleged wrongdoing was filed before the ruling took force.

The court ordered her to pay the fine nonetheless.

Last week, a court in Nizhny Novgorod, some 248 miles east of Moscow, ordered Anastasia Yershova to serve five days in jail on the same charge for wearing rainbow-coloured earrings in public, Mediazona also reported.

And in Volgograd, 559 miles south of Moscow, a court fined a man 1,000 roubles (£9) for allegedly posting a rainbow flag on social media, local court officials reported on Thursday, identifying the man only as Artyom P.