President Vladimir Putin has claimed that homophobia in Russia has been “deliberately exaggerated”, before attacking the United States and the anti-gay laws that he says still exist there.
Putin contended that some states in the US still have laws that criminalise homosexuality, before claiming that similar Soviet laws no longer existed.
Talking to CBS’s 60 minutes, he said.
The problem of sexual minorities in Russia had been deliberately exaggerated from the outside for political reasons, I believe, without any good basis. It’s well known that in four states in America, homosexual orientation is a crime,”
He added that he even thought the laws in question were scrapped by the Supreme Court in 2003.
It’s not completely removed from American legislation, but we don’t have. I definitely condemn that.”
Mr Putin then went on to say that he does not believe in the persecution of any minority – including the LGBT community.
He also claimed that Russia allows “people of non-traditional sexual orientation” to “live in peace.”
I don’t see here any infringement on the rights of gay people. In Russia, there are equal rights for everyone. Including for people of non-traditional sexual orientations as well.”
Although many have welcomed the leader’s move, others have argued that his blatant use homophobic words such as like “natural” and “normal” used to describe heterosexual relationships during the interview, reveals a different mind-set.
In addition, Putin recently awarded Milonov with the state’s highest civilian honour, raising further doubts that his comments are to be taken seriously.