Vladimir Putin has defended JK Rowling in a speech condemning “cancel culture” in the west.

       The Russian president claimed the west was trying to cancel Russian culture, including the works of great composers such as Pyotr Tchaikovsky, Dmitry Shostakovich and Sergei Rachmaninov.

       He said the British author had also been “cancelled” over her stance in sex and gender debates.

       “They cancelled Joanne Rowling recently - the children’s author, her books are published all over the world - just because she didn’t satisfy the demands of gender rights,” he said during a televised speech.

       He continued: “They are now trying to cancel our country. I’m talking about the progressive discrimination of everything to do with Russia.”

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       The leader went on to liken “cancel culture” Nazis trying to burn books in the 1930s, a theme he has returned on a number of times during the ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

       “We remember the footage when they were burning books,” he said.

       “It is impossible to imagine such a thing in our country and we are insured against this thanks to our culture.

       “And it’s inseparable for us from our motherland, from Russia, where there is no place for ethnic intolerance, where for centuries representatives from dozens of ethnic groups have been living together.”