Moscow mayor Yury Luzhkov, known for his...

"We have banned such parades and will ban them in future as well! Everyone must accept this not as a theorem but as an axiom," Luzhkov said during Christmas educational readings in Moscow.

The city chief in the past has resisted pressure from rights campaigners to allow gay parades in Moscow.

In June 2009, during the Facing the City talk show on the TV-Center channel, Luzhkov used the word "homos" (gomiki, in Russian) when referring to members of the gay community. Gay activists said the word was offensive and sued the mayor over the incident, but a Moscow court rejected their claim.

An attempt to hold an unauthorized parade to coincide with Moscow"s hosting of the Eurovision Song Contest in May was swiftly dispersed by police, while a march in May 2007 saw participants attacked by members of radical groups. More than 30 people were briefly detained.

Activists have called the bans illegal and threatened to sue the authorities through the European Court

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