Russian President Vladimir Putin, at a press conference following the G20 summit in Osaka, explained his position on the liberal idea and outlined his attitude towards the LGBT community.

On the eve of the summit, Putin gave an interview to the Financial Times in which he said that the liberal idea was outdated. The President of the European Council, Donald Tusk, responded to this by saying that authoritarianism and the cult of personality are outdated, despite the fact that they may seem effective. In the same interview, Putin said that he has nothing against gays, but many things seem excessive to him. British musician and singer Elton John reacted to this. He accused Putin of hypocrisy because Russian distributors censored the film “Rocketman,” which depicts the artist’s life. They removed all references to Elton John being married to a man and raising two sons with him.

Putin expressed surprise that the usual “passing” interview caused such a resonance. He noted that some country leaders discussed with him the topics raised in the interview. Putin noted that the liberal idea is multifaceted and generally attractive, but includes a certain attitude towards the economy and migration issues, with which the president does not agree. As an example, he cited information that in some European countries girls are prohibited from wearing skirts to school for safety reasons. The president did not specify how this relates to migrants. “People live in their own country, among their own culture, why does it need to be brought to this state?” - he said. “There is a clear inflection point, in my opinion, that this liberal idea is starting to eat itself,” Putin added.

The President also called Elton John a brilliant musician who is mistaken in his assessment of the situation around gay rights in Russia. “We have a very even attitude towards representatives of the LGBT community, really calm and absolutely unbiased,” he said and emphasized that the ban on the promotion of homosexuality is aimed only at protecting the interests of minors. “Let's let a person grow up, become an adult, and then decide who he is. Leave the children alone,” the president said. He said that the LGBT community is quite aggressive in imposing its point of view on the majority, which is not the right approach. “We need to be more loyal to each other, more open and transparent. We must respect everyone,” Putin said.

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