YEKATERINBURG, June 4 (RIA Novosti) – Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday he will sign a law banning adoption of Russian children by foreign same-sex couples if parliament passes such legislation.
“So far, I have no such bill, I have not seen this. But if such legislation is adopted by the country’s parliament, I will sign it,” Putin said at the Russia-EU summit which opened in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg on Tuesday.
Alexei Levchenko, an aide to Olga Golodets, a Russian deputy premier overseeing social issues, said last week an amendment restricting foreign same-sex couples from adopting Russian children will be introduced in Russia.
Russia’s ombudsman for children’s rights, Pavel Astakhov, said Moscow should impose a moratorium on adoptions by French citizens now France allows same-sex couples to marry and adopt children. The Russian-French agreement on adoptions should be reconsidered because France’s endorsement of gay marriage directly contradicts Russian legislation, he said.
French President Francois Hollande signed the gay marriage bill into the law on May 18. France has become the ninth European nation and the 14th country in the world to legalize “marriage for all.” The bill has sparked mass protests throughout France.
Speaking at the summit, Putin said: “I believe we all should be more tolerant and show less aggression. This concerns both people of traditional and non-traditional [sexual] orientation. Less aggression and touting of these problems. This will be better for everybody.”
Putin warned late last month that Russia could change its adoption agreements with countries that allow gay marriage, which goes against “traditional Russian values.”
Homosexuality was only decriminalized in Russia in 1993, and anti-gay sentiment remains strong in society, including among Russia's political establishment. In 2007, former Moscow mayor Yury Luzhkov described attempts to hold a gay parade in the capital as "satanic."
A ban on spreading “gay propaganda” among minors, currently under review in the Russian legislature, envisages fines of 4,000 to 500,000 rubles ($130 to $16,500) for individuals and organizations promoting the benefits of same-sex relations to minors. Local legislatures in several Russian regions, including St. Petersburg and Novosibirsk, have already passed a similar law.
Late last year, Putin signed a law to halt adoptions of Russian children by US citizens. The measure was officially touted as way to protect Russian children from abuse by American adoptive parents. However, at least one Kremlin official has acknowledged that the ban was “triggered” by the so-called Magnitsky Act, a US law seeking to impose financial and visa sanctions on Russian officials suspected of being complicit in human rights violations.
