The governor of Russia's Tambov region no longer faces charges of incitement after the regional branch of the Investigative Committee closed its investigation into his statements about gays, according to a July 29, 2008 article in the Voronezh edition of the national daily "Kommersant." In the wake of a scandal that led to the arrest of the mayor of Tambov, Governor Oleg Betin reportedly made a series of homophobic statements, including one that called for violence against gays, in a May 16, 2008 interview with the national daily "Komsomolskaya Pravda." Mayor Maxim Kosenkov was arrested and removed as mayor after he allegedly kidnapped his former lover. The fact that this exposed him as a homosexual appears to bother the region's governor, Oleg Betin, more than the alleged crime. During the interview, the governor reportedly said the following: "Tolerance? To hell with that! Gomiki [a pejorative for gays in Russian] need to be torn apart! Then scatter their pieces to the wind!" "I am against perversion," the governor stated, "The principles of Orthodoxy should be inviolate."

He also opined that the local and national media need to be "cleansed" of homosexuals and accused Mayor Kosenkov of surrounding himself with gays at city hall. The Investigative Committee closed its case, which it opened in response to a complaint by gay rights activists, after finding "no evidence of a crime" in the governor's statements.

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