Vladimir Putin has compared Russia to JK Rowling as he accused the West of "trying to cancel" his country.

The authoritarian leader said he could identify with the criticism faced by the Edinburgh based writer over her opposition to plans to reform gender recognition laws. 

In a bizarre rant during a televised meeting with cultural figures, Mr Putin also claimed the west was trying to ban composers including Tchaikovsky, Shostakovich and Rachmaninoff. 

Ever since the war in Ukraine, there has been a boycott of Russian artists. 

In Scotland, The Edinburgh International Festival (EIF) asked for and accepted the resignation of Russian conductor Valery Gergiev as its honorary president.

Eurovision has banned Russian artists from participating, while the Cannes Film Festival announced it would not welcome official Russian delegations.

"Today they are trying to cancel a whole thousand-year culture - our people," Mr Putin said.

"They are banning Russian writers and books."

He said the Harry Potter author was cancelled "just because she didn't satisfy the demands of gender rights".

He continued: "They are now trying to cancel our country. I'm talking about the progressive discrimination of everything to do with Russia."

He went on to liken "cancel culture" to Nazis trying to burn books in the 1930s.

"We remember the footage when they were burning books," he said.

"It is impossible to imagine such a thing in our country and we are insured against this thanks to our culture.

"And it's inseparable for us from our motherland, from Russia, where there is no place for ethnic intolerance, where for centuries representatives from dozens of ethnic groups have been living together."

Ms Rowling did not welcome Mr Putin's support. 

"Critiques of Western cancel culture are possibly not best made by those currently slaughtering civilians for the crime of resistance, or who jail and poison their critics," she tweeted, sharing a link to a news story about anti-corruption campaigner Alexei Navalny, who has long been one of the President's most prominent opponents.

The writer's charity, Lumos has a team working in Ukraine and neighbouring countries to provide support to children trapped in orphanages, and to provide emergency food, hygiene and medical kits to some of the most vulnerable children.

Ms Rowling has promised to donate up to £1m to help with the charity's work.

In recent years, she has been a high profile opponent of plans to change the gender recognition laws in Scotland. 

In 2020, Rowling took issue with a headline on an online article discussing “people who menstruate” and said: “I’m sure there used to be a word for those people. Someone help me out. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud?”

Critics accused her of being transphobic, an allegation Rowling strongly denied. She responded by saying: “I respect every trans person’s right to live any way that feels authentic and comfortable to them. I’d march with you if you were discriminated against on the basis of being trans.” 

However, Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe was one of the first to criticise JK Rowling for the comments.

Addressing fans on social media, he said: “To all the people who now feel that their experience of the books has been tarnished or diminished, I am deeply sorry for the pain these comments have caused you,” he said.

Earlier this month, Ms Rowling took to Twitter to criticise Nicola Sturgeon over the planned reforms to Scotland’s gender laws. 

In a tweet, she said: "The law @NicolaSturgeon's trying to pass in Scotland will harm the most vulnerable women in society: those seeking help after male violence/rape and incarcerated women.

"Statistics show that imprisoned women are already far more likely to have been previously abused.”

The Scottish Government’s Gender Recognition Reform Bill seeks to simplify the process for a trans person to change their legally recognised gender. 

Currently, under the 2004 Gender Recognition Act, trans people seeking a gender recognition certificate must have a formal diagnosis of gender dysphoria and live in their “acquired gender” for two years. 

The new proposals would remove the need for medical reports and reduce the waiting time to a minimum of three months, with a reflection period of a further three months.

The age at which people can apply would be reduced from 18 to 16.

The new Bill would also require applicants to swear that they intend to remain in their acquired gender for life, with a false declaration being a criminal offence carrying a potential punishment of up to two years’ imprisonment.

Feminist campaigners have raised concerns that the new legislation could have an impact on the single-sex exceptions in the Equality Act. They also expressed fears the change in law could potentially place women in danger from men who might abuse a self-identification system.

Ms Sturgeon posted that she “fundamentally disagreed” with Ms Rowling.

She said: “This is about an existing process by which people can legally change their gender and it’s about making that process less traumatic and inhumane for trans people – one of the most stigmatised minorities in our society."

Ms Sturgeon added: "It doesn’t give trans people any more rights, nor does it take away from women any of the current existing rights under the Equality Act.

"There was a plea [in Parliament] to have a debate that was civilised, that was respectful of different opinions, but that didn’t give inadvertently sucker to those – and I’m not describing anybody like JK Rowling or anyone else in this way for the avoidance of doubt – to exploit this issue for purposes of prejudice and transphobia.”