Russian President Vladimir Putin stated in recent remarks that out British singer Elton John is “mistaken” about LGBT rights in Russia.

Putin was asked at the G-20 summit in Osaka, Japan about an Instagram post from John. In that post, John stated that he was deeply upset with Putin's claim that Russia has “no problem with LGBT persons.”

“I have a lot of respect for him, he is a genius musician, we all enjoy his music, but I think he is mistaken,” Putin said.

Russia has a “relaxed and unprejudiced” attitude toward people who are LGBT, Putin claimed, adding that Russian laws prohibiting the “propaganda of homosexuality among minors” is necessary because children need to be “left alone.”

John was responding to earlier comments Putin made in an interview with the Financial Times. In that interview, Putin said that he was fine with LGBT people but that liberal views were “obsolete.”

“We have no problem with LGBT persons,” Putin said. “God forbid, let them live as they wish. But some things do appear excessive to us. They claim now that children can play five or six gender roles.”

“Let everyone be happy, we have no problem with that. But this must not be allowed to overshadow the culture, traditions and traditional family values of millions of people making up the core population,” he added.

On Friday, John posted a photo on Instagram of himself with his husband David Furnish and their two sons. The word “CENSORED” was superimposed on the photo. He called Putin's remarks “hypocrisy” based on the recent censoring of gay references in Rocketman in Russia.

“I was deeply upset when I read your recent interview in the Financial Times,” John wrote in the photo's caption. “I strongly disagree with your view that pursuing policies that embrace multicultural and sexual diversity are obsolete in our societies. I find duplicity in your comment that you want LGBT people to ‘be happy’ and that ‘we have no problem in that.' Yet Russian distributors chose to heavily censor my film Rocketman by removing all references to my finding true happiness through my 25 year relationship with David and the raising of my two beautiful sons. This feels like hypocrisy to me.”

“I am proud to live in a part of the world where our governments have evolved to recognise the universal human right to love whoever we want,” he said. “And I’m truly grateful for the advancement in government policies that have allowed and legally supported my marriage to David. This has brought us both tremendous comfort and happiness.”