The Patriarch of Moscow, the most senior post in Russia’s Orthodox church, has said that same-sex marriage laws are equivalent to those brought in by Hitler’s Nazi regime.

He also claims they could end all of human existence.

In a sit-down interview with state broadcaster Russia Today (RT). the ally of Putin claimed that marriage equality legislation is inherently against human morality.

“We could compare this to the apartheid in Africa or Nazi laws,” he said.

“When the law went against inherent moral values the people rebelled. They new it was artificial and against their nature.

“For the first time in human history, legislation is at odds with the nature of human beings – with what’s good and evil.”

As well as Nazis and apartheid, the religious leader, real name Vladimir Mikhailovich Gundyayev, compared equality laws brought in by some Western countries to Soviet totalitarianism.

“Again, this is very reminiscent of what was happening under Soviet totalitarianism.

“In the countries that declare their commitment to freedom of speech, you can get punished for expressing your opinion.

“That’s a dangerous trend, and I hope it will peter out and the natural order of things will prevail.

“I don’t even want to think about what might happen to us otherwise.”

He went on to explain that same-sex marriages might well mean the end of the human race.

“Under no circumstances should this be accepted as a social norm no different from the social norm that stems from our moral nature, meaning marriage between a man and wife who create a family and have children.

“That’s why we believe this new trend poses a significant threat for the existence of the human race.”