Responding to a sex ban call by the head of the Russian parliamentary family committee, Tamara Pletnyova, 70, who said she hoped women would not date visiting fans and get pregnant, a Vladimir Putin spokesperson said otherwise.

Dmitry Peskov told reporters: ‘As for Russian women, they can, perhaps, decide it on their own. They are the best women in whole world.’

Pletnyova said young women should “get something clear in their heads regarding foreigners”, warning that Russian women could end up raising mixed-race children on their own, and referred to the ‘Children of the Olympics’ after the 1980 Moscow games.