Jessica Durando

USA TODAY

A Russian gay couple was arrested Monday when attempting to leave a memorial outside the U.S. embassy in Moscow to the 49 victims of the Orlando mass shooting, multiple media outlets reported.

Islam Abdullabeckov and his boyfriend Felix Glyukman were about to leave flowers and a sign that read "Love wins — Stay with Orlando" outside the embassy when they were detained, the AFP reported.

Police accused the couple of holding an unauthorized demonstration, a charge that can lead to fines or imprisonment in the country, the Washington Post reported. Also, gay rights demonstrations are banned in Russia. The couple were taken to a police station and questioned for three hours before being released, according to the Post.

“We weren’t going to hold a political protest," Abdullabeckov told the newspaper via Facebook. “We just wanted to put a poster and light candles.”

Flowers and candles have been left outside the U.S. embassy in Moscow after Omar Mateen, 29, gunned down dozens in a gay nightclub in Florida Sunday.

“Homophobia is the official policy of the (Vladimir) Putin state,” Abdullabeckov told the Washington Post.