[4] She covered protests against the construction of a controversial 12-lane highway through the Khimki Forest, and exposed the presence of Russian fighters in the War in Donbas in Eastern Ukraine.

I decided to try to write something in the local paper.”[7] Then, she read an article about Chechnya by Anna Politkovskaya in Novaya Gazeta, described by the Guardian as “the last major publication consistently critical of Kremlin power” and as a newspaper “dedicated to real journalism, unlike Russian television and most other newspapers, all under [President Vladimir] Putin's thumb.” The article proved revelatory to Kostyuchenko: “I was shocked.

The action involved “just going to the Duma with a mixed group of people, homosexuals, heterosexuals, couples, singles, and, for those who have them, significant others.

If a person doesn’t have anyone to kiss, they just hug whoever is standing next to them.” The result had been violence by Russian Orthodox activists and others against the participants: “Two of my friends got their noses broken,” she said, “and they beat up my girlfriend.” Asked about the demonstration, she said that “doing something is always better than sitting at home and waiting around for Duma deputies to declare you a second-class citizen.” She underscored that “I am not the center of LGBT activism in Russia.

[2] In September 2013, Kostyuchenko threatened on Twitter to “out” closeted Russian politicians who voted for a bill that equated homosexuality with alcoholism and drug abuse and that would remove children from gay parents.

“They want to destroy our lives, and we will destroy them.”[2] She said that publicly revealing the private same-sex activities of Russian members of parliament was a “nuclear bomb” that should be used only as a “last resort,” but that given the proposed bill that would remove children from the homes of gay and lesbian parents, she said that “such a time has come.” She promised to publish a report outing closeted Duma members on the day the bill had its first reading in the State Duma.

While the opening ceremonies of the Sochi Olympics were taking place, they sang the Russian national anthem as they displayed a rainbow flag.

[17] October 2023 saw the publication in English of a selection of her writing, entitled I Love Russia: Reporting from a Lost Country, translated by Bela Shayevich and Ilona Yazhbin Chavasse, and published by Penguin Press.

[18][19] The book has subsequently been translated into other languages as well; the French title is Russie, Mon Pays Bien-aimé (Russia, My Beloved Country).