Russia's second-largest city, St Petersburg, must reverse its ban on a gay pride event, ruled a city court as it called on officials to negotiate with organizers of the event, dpa reported.
The cancellation was not proper because city officials did not suggest an alternate date before banning the event, ruled the court, a spokesman told the Interfax news agency on Monday.
Gay and lesbian groups welcomed the verdict. Gay marches are routinely banned in St Petersburg. In Moscow, they are regularly broken up violently by police.