Russian President Vladimir Putin pledged Monday that gay and lesbian athletes and visitors at next year's Winter Olympic Games in Sochi will feel at ease despite Russia's new "homosexual propaganda" ban.
"We will do everything to make sure that athletes, fans and guests feel comfortable at the Olympic Games regardless of their ethnicity, race or sexual orientation," Putin told visiting International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach in remarks broadcast on Russian television.
Russia's adoption in June of a disputed law prohibiting the dissemination of information about homosexuality to minors has sparked protests from international rights groups and calls for a boycott of the country's first post-Soviet Games.
The scandal has already cast a pall over an event closely associated with the powerful Russian leader's image and dubbed by some media as the "Putin Games".
Sochi was meant to showcase the strides Russia has made since the 1980 Summer Games in Moscow were boycotted by a host of Western nations because of the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan.
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