Russian parliament approves American adoption ban

Russia's parliament has given preliminary approval to a measure banning the adoption of Russian children by Americans, a harsh
retaliatory move against U.S. human rights legislation.

Top Russian officials have expressed unease about the proposal, an apparent indication that the Kremlin opposes the move.

The lower house of parliament, the State Duma, on Wednesday approved the second reading of a bill responding to the U.S. legislation. The proposed adoption ban was not part of the original version of the bill, but was added as an amendment.

To become law, the measure would have to pass a third reading in the Duma, then clear the upper house before going to President Vladimir Putin for his signature.

The Chairman of the Duma's Foreign Relations Committee explained the reasoning behind the preliminary approval.

"The cases of death of our children in the United States continue, and the cases of not guilty verdicts, so we decided to take this tough decision to deprive the Americans of the right to adopt Russian children," said Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Alexey Pushkov.

The preliminary approval for the ban came as an amendment to a bill retaliating against a recently passed US law imposing sanctions on Russians considered human rights violators.

Several top Russian officials have spoken out against the amendment or suggested it is an overreaction to the US law.

Pushkov also spoke about the issue of  homosexuality in Russia after several gay rights campaigners were attacked by anti-gay activists during a protest on Wednesday.

"In Russia, the attitude to these things is clear - it is negative," Pushkov said.

"No-one prohibits people from behaving how they like in their private life, but when some people demand to hold gay parades in the Alexanrovsky Sad (Alexandrovsky Garden by the Kremlin wall), by the Tomb of Unknown Soldier, just next to it, the majority of Russian citizens thinks that this is not the right place to have gay parades," Pushkov added.


AP