Russia Should Look for 'Effective Antidote' to Non-Traditional Values From Abroad, Putin Says

The Russian president made the statement during his annual Q&A session, during which he speaks on a variety of topics ranging from domestic policy and social issues to the economy and international issues. This year's event was scaled down to the coronavirus pandemic with only 500 journalists in attendance.

Russia should look for an "effective antidote" to non-traditional values from abroad, President Vladimir Putin has said. The Russian head of state made the statement while being asked questions about new ethics, gender identity, and transgender individuals.

Putin stressed that Russia has to support its traditional values in order to fight the obscurantism that is coming from the West.

“Just like with the coronavirus pandemic one can't escape [non-traditional values coming from abroad]. We need to look for an antidote. If one thinks that a man and a woman is the same thing¸ let them think so, but there has to be common sense in everything", Putin said.

The Russian head of state warned that female sports will cease to exist if organisations allow men, who identify themselves as women, to participate in competitions.

"Imagine a man declares that he is a woman and starts competing in weightlifitng. This will destroy women's professional sports. I am a proponent of the traditional approach that a woman is a woman and a man is a man", Putin said.

The Russian head of state also mentioned an incident, which reportedly took place in the United States, where a male prisoner declared himself a woman and asked to transfer him to a female penitentiary, where he immediately raped a woman. "We must rely on common sense", Putin said.

Speaking at the Valdai Discussion Club earlier this year, the president said that the West's fight for equal rights and against discrimination had turned into "aggressive dogmatism bordering on the absurd", blasting the idea of giving children the right to determine their gender.

"'Parent number one' and 'parent number two': 'birth parent' instead of 'mother', banning the use of the phrase 'breast milk' and replacing it with 'human milk' so that people who are insecure about their gender will not be upset. Children today from a young age are taught that a boy can easily become a girl and vice versa, factually imposing on them an alleged choice, removing the parents from this process and forcing a child to make a decision that could break his/her life", Putin said.

On Thursday the Russian president held his traditional Q&A session during which he addressed a variety of topics, including the economy, domestic policy, social and international issues.