There will be heavy fines for anyone spreading LGBT “propaganda”, including “non-traditional relationships”.

The country’s parliament is to draw up new laws to combat the “propaganda of sodomy”, which the west is apparently trying to impose on Russia.

It cites as evidence a recent episode of children’s cartoon Peppa Pig, which features a polar bear who has two mothers instead of the traditional mother and father polar bear.

On Monday, the Duma was told that Russians were dying in Ukraine to protect traditional Christian values. Alexander Khinshtein, the head of the Duma’s information committee, said the Ukraine offensive had given the proposed law “new relevance”.

He added: “The special operation takes place not only on the battlefield, but also in the minds and souls of people.”

He referred to the Peppa Pig episode, in which Penny the Polar Bear appears with same-sex parents, as western propaganda.

Vyacheslav Volodin, the speaker, said: “We must protect ourselves from the darkness that is spreading more and more in the world.”

One of Russia’s bestselling books this year depicts a gay relationship between two men. Summer in a Pioneer Tie has sold more than 250,000 copies.