It’s like shooting fish in a barrel. I’m almost feeling sorry for the Russian government at this point. It simply can’t help itself.

The latest numbskull to shoot himself in the foot is Russia’s World Cup Chief, Alexey Sorokin.

In an interview with World Football Insider, Sorokin, while defending Russia’s draconian new anti-gay law, compared gays to Nazis, and then went on about how no one wants naked gay people running around the Olympics. Sorokin also invoked the too-smart-by-half lie about the anti-gay law that I talked about yesterday.

First off, Sorokin tried to claim that the law doesn’t ban gay people, it just bans “gay propaganda.” Of course, what do the Russians consider gay propaganda? A gay Olympic athlete showing up at an official Olympic event with his husband.

Then Sorokin went off on some weird tangent about how no one wants a “World Cup where naked people are running around displaying their homosexuality.” I don’t know about you, but I think I might enjoy that. Though I’m not entirely sure what this has to do with gay people.

And then came the Nazi comparison.

“The Olympics and World Cup are not a stage for various views… not for Nazis, not for any other ways of life.”

Of course, the irony is that the Russian authorities have no problem with Nazis, so long as they’re kidnapping gay teenagers and torturing them.

Finally, Sorokin pulled the “we’re not going to arrest anyone, unless of course we arrest them” argument that the Russians have been making for a while now.

Sorokin said Russia had given assurances from high-level government officials that the law would not affect athletes or fans “unless someone intends to be actively involved in the propaganda of this”. “They have nothing more to fear. They have guarantees and assurances that they will not be affected. The minister of sport [Vitaly Mutko] has given a full and detailed explanation.

Mutko was our other Russian foot-in-mouth friend, who was the first to spill the beans that the Russians planned to jail Olympic athletes, guests and media. Then yesterday, the Russian Interior Ministry confirmed what Mutko had been saying all along, that the Russians would jail any Olympic athletes, fans, or media who violate its terrifyingly-vague anti-gay “propaganda” law.

Back to Sorokin. Did you catch what he did there? Sorokin claims that athletes and fans to Russian sporting events like the World Cup and the Sochi Olympic won’t be affected by the new anti-gay propaganda law, unless of course, Sorokin add, foreign athletes and fans violate the anti-gay propaganda law, in which case the Russians will throw their sorry asses in a gulag.

Glad Sorokin could clarify this for us. I’m sure the 2018 World Cup in Russia is going to be a blast with Sorokin running it.

Speaking of Nazis…