Donald Trump
The US President has remained silent about the anti-LGBT abuse in Chechnya Reuters/Jim Lo Scalzo/Pool

Donald Trump has so far remained silent on LGBT rights abuses in Chechnya, despite the escalating violence in the autonomous Russian region.

British Prime Minister Theresa May, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and former US Vice President Joe Biden are among those who have spoken out against the situation.

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Hundreds of gay men are being arrested, detained and tortured in the conservative republic.

A report published last month in the independent Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta described how at least 100 men have been detained in prison camps for LGBT people, where prisoners face abuse and torture.

After initially reporting that prison camps had been established in the villages of Argun and Tsotsi-Yurt, the newspapers have since reported there are at least six prisons across Chechnya.

Gay men are being evacuated from the region by the human rights organisation the Russian LGBT Network.

The White House has not been able to confirm if US President Trump has been briefed on the human rights crisis in Chechnya, according to Gay Star News.

Trump met Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on 10 May but it is not known whether the issue of anti-gay abuses in Chechnya was brought up.

Under questioning from the Washington Blade, White House spokesperson Sarah Huckabee Sanders said she wasn't "one hundred percent sure" if the President had been informed of the reported incidents of violence.

The non-governmental LGBT media monitoring organisation GLAAD has repeatedly called for Trump to publicly condemn the attacks against gay men.

"It is shocking that the White House can't even confirm if President Trump is "aware" of the anti-LGBTQ violence in Chechnya. It seems President Trump is only aware of news that includes his own name," GLAAD CEO Sarah Kate Ellis said in a statement.

"If President Trump doesn't join Ambassador Haley and other world leaders in condemning this humanitarian crisis, it is only further evidence that his Administration is working to force LGBTQ people around the globe back into the closet."

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