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Russian President Vladimir Putin was spotted cuddling a gay athlete at a Winter Olympics afterparty.

Dutch gold medal winning speedskater Ireen Wust was congratulated by hundreds of fans for her 3,000m victory - including the anti-gay rights leader.

Ireen told the Dutch national media: "He congratulated me and asked if everything was OK in Russia."

Ireen congratulated him on Russian speedskater Olga Graf winning bronze.

She added: "He was happy to see me, but then he had to leave again. But I cuddled him."

The afterparty was at Holland Heinekan House where Dutch fans can go to celebrate and meet athletes.

Relations between the Netherlands and Russia have been strained over the last few months, but Putin seemed to want a line drawn under this.

As he left the party he addressed reporters in English, saying: "Fantastic. Good people and good results... Good party."

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Ireen, 27, became the first openly gay athlete to win a medal at the Sochi Games but says she will not use the podium to talk about gay rights.

She said: "I want to talk about ice skating. You are not asking (fellow Dutch speedskater) Sven Kramer about how his relationship is going. So why would you ask me? If I would’ve had a relationship with a guy, you wouldn’t have asked me either.”

She is one of seven openly gay athletes competing in Sochi, but she more publicly identifies herself as Dutch while on the world stage. She painted her nails the colors of the Dutch flag.

She said: "Seventeen million Dutch wanted me to win. Now the extreme pressure is off and I can win more."

Putin was slammed by Elton John ahead of the games after the president said millions of people liked the Candle in the Wind singer "despite his orientation."

Sir Elton told how homophobia was rife in Russia. He said: "“The people I met in Moscow - gay men and lesbians in their 20s, 30s and 40s - told me stories about receiving threats from vigilante groups who would ‘cure’ them of homosexuality by dousing them with urine or beating them up,” he said.

“One young man was stalked outside a gay club by someone posing as a taxi driver who tried to garrotte him with a guitar string because he was a ‘sodomite’."

Putin passed a law to ban homosexual ‘propaganda’ at the Winter Olympics in Sochi.

The 61-year-old politician has previously argued that there could not be any discrimination against homosexuals in his country, because he has gay friends.

He said: “I myself know some people who are gay. We’re on friendly terms. I’m not prejudiced in any way.

"Homosexual people can’t feel inferior here [in Russia] because there is no professional, career or social discrimination against them.”

The ban on homosexual ‘propaganda’ will prevent anyone from giving any information about homosexuality to people under the age of 18.

Hunting, fishing, Judo, bareback riding, polar bears - see Putin's most macho moments here: