An ultra-conservative, pro-Kremlin Russian lawmaker has sparked an anti-Semitism row after saying the ancestors of local Jewish opposition figures in St. Petersburg 'boiled Christians in cauldrons'.

Vitaly Milonov, a Duma deputy known for his anti-gay initiatives, lashed out at the weekend at two local lawmakers who are leading a protest against handing over St Isaac's Basilica to the Russian Orthodox Church.

'Christians survived despite the fact that the ancestors of Boris Vishnevsky and Maksim Reznik boiled us in cauldrons and fed us to animals,' Milonov said at a rally on Sunday to support the controversial handover.