As much as I want to be mad about this (I can no longer drive in Russia), It's really just a continued case of Russia being Russia.

Power in Russia has always been tied to the Orthodox Church (even in Soviet times when they were technically atheistic and anti church). These are people who think that Greek Orthodox are heretics for not being strict enough in their religious beliefs, and have no instruments in their church because "the only instrument God created is the voice". There are even significant fringe groups in the country (called "Old Believers") who think Orthodox got too watered down a few centuries back when they started letting people cut their beards.

Russia is not exactly a liberal bastion, and rarely if ever has been.

That said, this is also a political move by the government to keep support of the conservatives as their approval ratings drop. The Ruble is low as fuck right now because of trade sanctions from the Ukraine conflict. Russia's also been building the LGBTQ community into a new scapegoat for a while now (most of the Jews have gotten smart and left ages ago, so they don't work as well anymore).

Idunno man, the more I've read about Russian History, the more I think that it's never really gonna change. A "Giant with Feet of Clay" indeed.