Nearly two-thirds of Russians believe gays are conspiring to subvert the country’s traditional values, according to a recent survey conducted by the state-run Russian Public Opinion Research Center.

“Most of our fellow citizens (63 percent) believe in the existence of an organization that seeks to destroy the spiritual values generated by Russians, through the propaganda of nontraditional sexual relations,” a translated version of the poll results states.

Less than a quarter of respondents (24 percent) found that “people who advocate for the rights of members of sexual minorities in Russia do not pursue destructive goals.” When broken down by age, however, nearly half (48 percent) of those aged 18-24 said gay advocates don't pursue "destructive goals."

The survey of 2,000 Russian citizens was conducted in late May, and the results were unveiled on Aug. 20. Given the current climate for LGBTQ people in Russia, activists said they were not surprised by the findings.

“Such results reflect in many ways the official policies of the Russian authorities,” Svetlana Zakharova, communications manager for the Russian LGBT Network, told NBC News in an email. “Unfortunately, it is exactly the rhetoric promoted through the biggest mass media, which are mostly state controlled.”

Zakharova said these attitudes have led to the steadily growing number of hate crimes against LGBTQ-identifying people in the country.

“[The Russian LGBT Network’s] monitoring reports show that this amount grows steadily since the adoption of the so-called [gay] propaganda law adopted in 2013,” she explained.