“If it is impossible to stop, then we must lead it and direct it,” Mr Putin said.

The Russian leader told cultural advisers at a Kremlin meeting on Saturday that attempts to ban artists from performing will either have an adverse effect and bolster their popularity, however, they have to crack down.

Mr Putin argued that “rap is based on three pillars: sex, drugs and protest.”

But he is particularly concerned with drug themes prevalent in rap, saying “this is a path to the degradation of the nation.”

He then claimed “drug propaganda” is worse than cursing.

Mr Putin’s comments come amid a crackdown on contemporary music that evoked Soviet-era censorship of the arts.