 He soon began working as a journalist for the first independent Russian publishers, newspapers and radio stations.At the age of 21, Mogutin had gained both critical acclaim and official condemnation for his outspoken queer writings and activism.Accused of "open and deliberate contempt for generally accepted moral norms"; "malicious hooliganism with exceptional cynicism and extreme insolence"; "inflaming social, national, and religious division"; "propaganda of brutal violence, psychic pathology, and sexual perversions" – he came under harassment and a continuous criminal investigation.