Putin: Olympic athletes will feel ‘comfortable regardless of sexual orientation’
President Vladimir Putin has once again moved to dismiss concerns about LGBT athletes attending the Winter Olympics in light of Russia’s anti-gay laws.
“We are doing everything, both the organisers and our athletes and fans, so that participants and guests feel comfortable in Sochi, regardless of nationality, race or sexual orientation,” President Putin told Thomas Bach, the head of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), on Monday.
The Games are due to be held in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi in February 2014.
It prescribes fines for providing information about homosexuality to people under the age of 18 – ranging from 4,000 roubles (£78) for an individual to 1m roubles (£19,620) for organisations.
Mr Putin added that although some European countries have introduced same-sex marriage, “the Europeans are dying out… and gay marriages don’t produce children.”
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