Russian President Vladimir Putin has made the extraordinary claim that former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi is being persecuted because of his heterosexuality over claims he had sex with an underage prostitute.

‘Berlusconi is being tried because he lives with women,’ Putin said Thursday in Valdai, Russia.

‘If he were homosexual, no one would lift a finger against him.’

During the same speech Putin accused pro-LGBT rights countries of abandoning the ‘Christian values that form the basis of Western civilization.’

‘Policies are being pursued that place on the same level a multi-child family and a single-sex partnership, faith in God and belief in Satan,’ Putin said, according to the Wall Street Journal.

‘Excesses of political correctness have reached the point that serious consideration is being given to the registration of parties whose aim is to promote pedophilia.’

Berlusconi is appealing a conviction for paying for sex with an underage nightclub dancer and has also been convicted of tax fraud.