Russia has reached a shocking milestone, with over 1 million people officially registered with HIV.

The Kremlin's ultra-conservative approach to the crisis, however, is drawing sharp criticism from people at the forefront of the battle to contain the disease, who say it is fuelling the epidemic.

"HIV has entered the mainstream population," warns Dr Vadim Pokrovsky, head of Russia's Federal AIDS Centre.

"Last year heterosexual women made up almost half of the country's record number of almost 100,000 new cases."

Katya is one of them. She contracted the virus from the man she was engaged to marry, and was just 18 when a pre-wedding blood test revealed she was HIV positive. It was devastating.

"The clinic called my mother and told her first," Katya says.

"She completely freaked out, accused me of being a prostitute or a drug addict and wouldn't let me near her or the rest of my family.

"I had to lie to her for six years that the result was a mistake."

Katya K was diagnosed HIV positive when she was 18 and hid her situation from her mother for six years. ( Supplied: Kim Traill )

Not enough medicine to treat everyone

Infection rates in Russia are growing at over 10 per cent a year. AIDS experts are worried, and the hospitals are overwhelmed.

The corridors in Moscow Regional Hospital's AIDS centre are overflowing with anxious patients.

Pregnant women sit alongside the more typical high-risk groups: gay men, and hollow-eyed drug-addicts.

Dr Vadim Pokrovsky estimates over 1 per cent of Russia's population is infected with HIV/AIDS. ( Supplied: Kim Traill )

"We currently have 38,000 patients," says Dr Orlova-Morozova, head of the hospital's AIDS department.

"The doctors must see up to 70 patients a day and we don't have enough time to explain things properly to them."

There is not enough money for medicine. The department ran out entirely earlier this year, and currently only has enough to treat one third of the thousands of patients.

"If we give treatment to everyone we'll run out of tablets, so we have to refuse certain people," Dr Orlova-Morozova says.

At his research centre, Dr Pokrovksy says the Health Ministry is trying to reduce costs so more people can be treated with the same money.

"We have told the Government we need five times more money than they are giving us, but so far we have had no response."

Of the 850,000 surviving cases of HIV across the country, only about a quarter are receiving treatment.

In the Moscow region alone, 7,000 people have died.

HIV positive, no job and no medical care

Outreach workers at LaSky prepare to visit gay clubs to encourage men to come for HIV testing. ( Supplied: Kim Traill )

Sasha, 32, is one of the thousands of HIV positive cases in Moscow who cannot even put his name on Dr Orlova-Morozova's patient list.

Originally from Uzbekistan, he moved to Moscow several years ago for a better life, and was horrified when he and his partner became unwell and tested positive.

He is now in an impossible situation.

As a foreign citizen, Sasha is not entitled to free medical care in Moscow and according to Russian law he would have to return to Uzbekistan, where homosexuality is illegal.

"If I go back and try to get treated at the AIDS centre there, they will know instantly that I am gay and put me in prison," he says.

He cannot earn money to pay for treatment either — being a 'foreigner' in Moscow, he must prove he is HIV-free to gain employment.

But it is not only foreigners who cannot receive HIV treatment in Moscow. Russian citizens from other parts of the country are also ineligible for potentially life-saving antiretroviral therapy unless they return to wherever they came from.

Kremlin fights HIV with 'family, fidelity, faith'

Evgeny Sorokoumov, project manager with LaSky, an outreach organisation for gay men in Moscow, says the toll is mounting.

Evgeny Sorokoumov says people just discard any information they are given on HIV testing. ( Supplied: Kim Traill )

"In the past month, I have counted 22 young men on Facebook alone who died, all internal migrants who couldn't get treatment here," he says.

"Every day there is a funeral. People work, live and pay taxes here, but can't get treatment here - and they die."

Russia's first case of HIV was recorded after the 'iron curtain' began to lift in the late 1980s.

The country opened its borders and simultaneously restricted alcohol, leading to a surge in intravenous use.

The conservative social mores of the Soviet era vanished, the old taboos of sex and drugs were forgotten, and by the end of the 1990s, thousands of cases of HIV were reported.

Under President Vladimir Putin however, Russia has been returning to its morally guarded past.

The Kremlin's approach to fighting HIV is simple: 'Family, fidelity and faith'.

A new chapel has been constructed in the grounds of Russia's Federal AIDS Centre. ( Supplied: Kim Traill )

Dr Pokrovsky gestures outside his office window to a small new Russian Orthodox chapel in the hospital grounds.

"Personally I am sceptical about the benefit of putting money into churches ahead of drugs and education, but many people believe it helps," he says.

At a recent AIDS conference, one paper even described 'How prayer can cure HIV', points out Andrei Beloglazov, founder and director of LaSky.

"It was supposed to be a scientific conference," he says in dismay.

"But people really believe this."

Government health warnings blame moral lapses.

One poster in the hospital corridor reads:

"The majority of cases of HIV/AIDS are due to the weaknesses and improper behaviour on behalf of the infected person."

Dr Orlova-Morozova explains her challenge in practical terms.

"Condoms have practically been banned because they lead to people having sex, and sex is risky," she says.

'People don't want to know their HIV status'

People known to be HIV positive are frequently treated as pariahs, often losing their jobs and being rejected by friends and family.

LaSky's outreach workers visit gay clubs and distribute condoms, information and encourage men to come for free testing. But they are not welcomed.

"People don't want to know their HIV status," says Mr Sorokoumov.

"When we hand them our card, they throw it away like it's on fire."

The Kremlin has banned sex education in schools and teachers who mention sex or HIV to children under the age of 15 can be punished.

Mr Sorokoumov believes the Government simply does not care about those dying of AIDS.