The new legislation, signed into law in June by Russian President Vladimir Putin, has caused controversy worldwide and cast a shadow over preparations for the Winter Olympics and Paralympics. 

"Perhaps the state authorities should have waited a little to include the ban on homosexuality propaganda in the law," Mutko told RBC, a Russian news agency.

"It was possible to calculate how much resonance it would cause in the West, especially in the run-up to the Sochi Olympics."

Russia's anti-gay propaganda law has sparked protests around the world and overshadowed the build-up to Sochi 2014 @YouTube

Mutko claimed that Russia's rivals had used the new law and the controversy it has generated as a weapon to attack the country. 

"The West's reaction to the law is part of the relationship to our country," he said.