De facto Crimean leader Sergei Aksyonov told a government session yesterday that sexual minorities have “no chance” on the recently-annexed Ukrainian peninsula.

During a government session yesterday, Aksyonov told the assembled politicians “we in Crimea do not need” gay people and that if the LGBT community attempted to hold public gatherings – such as a Pride parade – “our police and self-defence forces will react immediately and in three minutes will explain to them what kind of sexual orientation they should stick to.”

The interim head of the Crimean government, who was installed after Russia’s annexation of Crimea earlier this year, also said that young people in the region should be taught a “positive attitude” towards the family institution and traditional values, reports Russian news agency, Interfax.

Ukraine was the first post-Soviet country to decriminalise gay sex in 1991, though homophobic prejudice and incidents still continue to be reported.

Earlier this year, the government also dropped an amendment to a labour legislation that would have barred using sexual orientation as grounds for discrimination, reports International Business Times.