A Russian teacher has said he was fired for protesting against the nationwide anti-gay bill.

Ilya Kolmanovsky, an award-winning biology teacher at a top public school, said he was suddenly dismissed on Monday (28 January).

‘I have been fired from the school where I worked for seven years,’ he wrote on Facebook.

Kolmanovsky said he had participated in the 25 January protest in Moscow against the nationwide bill to ban ‘gay propaganda’.

After arguing with anti-gay activists, Kolmanovsky claimed they pulled strings to get him fired from School No. 2, a prestigious maths and science college in the Russian capital.

He said: ‘My opponents found about me and my school and sent complaints to the administration, and on Monday the principal told me he is firing me to save the school.’

‘I don’t blame the principal,’ he added. ‘He knows better who is dealing with.’

Despite the protests, the Russian Duma voted for a national gay gag law.

The national bill Duma voted for must now pass two more readings in the State Duma, be approved by the Federation Council and signed by Putin before becoming law.

It followed the announcement that Kalingrad had become the 10^th region in Russia to introduce the ‘homosexual propaganda’ ban.