The six-foot tall interactive memorial has been taken down (Picture: AP)

A Steve Jobs memorial has been taken down in Russia after the man who succeeded him at Apple, Tim Cook, announced he was gay.

The two-metre high iPhone shaped monument was dismantled outside St Petersburg college after being placed there in 2013 by a group of businesses called ZEFS.

The organisation made the decision on Friday because it said it needed to abide by a law combating ‘gay propaganda.’

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‘In Russia, gay propaganda and other sexual perversions among minors are prohibited by law,’ ZEFS said, noting the memorial had been ‘in an area of direct access for young students and scholars’.



It added: ‘After Apple CEO Tim Cook publicly called for sodomy, the monument was taken down to abide to the Russian federal law protecting children from information promoting denial of traditional family values.’

Promoting ‘traditional values’, president Vladimir Putin last year signed a law prohibiting the spread of ‘gay propaganda’ among minors.

Putin said there was no discrimination against gay people in Russia and the law was needed only to protect young people, although members of the gay community said its passage had increased problems for them.

Vitaly Milonov, a St Petersburg legislator who has campaigned against gay rights and was among legislators behind the law signed by Putin, has called for Apple’s CEO Cook to be barred entrance to Russia, according to reports.

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