Putin Says He'd Rather Not 'Provoke' Gay Men by Showering with Them

Speaking with filmmaker Oliver Stone for a series of interviews, Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed a number of topics, including the "gay propaganda" measure he signed into law in 2013.

Putin said the law, which men have called a takedown of LGBT rights, does not discriminate against gay people in Russia.

"There are no restrictions whatsoever," he said.

Stone then asked: "If you're taking a shower in a submarine with a man and you know he's gay, do they have a problem with that?"

According to The New York Post, Putin had a terrible response.

"Well, I prefer not to go to the shower with him. Why provoke him? But you know, I'm a judo master," he said.

"I can tell you this, that as head of state today, I believe it's my duty to uphold traditional values and family values," Putin added, according to The Daily Beast. "But why? Because same-sex marriages will not produce any children. God has decided, and we have to care about birth rates in our country.

"We have to reinforce families," he went on to say. "But that doesn't mean that there should be any persecution against anyone."

Elsewhere in the interview, Putin made disparaging comments about women, saying: "I am not a woman, so I don't have bad days."