Skip to main content

Russian official calls anti-gay law's timing a 'mistake'

The 2014 Sochi Olympics in Russia begin in February. (Asahi Shimbun)

The 2014 olympics begin in February. (Asahi Shimbun)

Russia's sports minister has said that passing a law banning so-called "same-sex propaganda" should not have been passed until after the Winter Olympics in Sochi, according to an Associated Press report.

Vitaly Mutko did not claim that the law itself was unjust in his interview with Russia's RBK business newspaper, only that it should have been tabled to limit the blowback from Western countries:

"Perhaps the state authorities should have waited a little. ... It was possible to calculate how much resonance it would cause in the West, especially in the run-up to the Sochi Olympics."

Mutko also told reporters that the international opposition to the law was the result of jealousy of Russia's strength.

SI WIRE: Lance Armstrong claims UCI president helped with doping cover up