Russian President Vladimir Putin has just signed a new law that seeks to protect children from radical gender ideology.
On Saturday, Putin signed a bill into law that prohibits the adoption of Russian children by citizens of countries where “gender transition” surgery is legal.
Russian lower house Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin was one of the authors of the bill.
In response to Putin signing the bill into law, Volodin asserted:
“It is extremely important to eliminate possible dangers in the form of gender reassignment that adopted children may face in these countries.”
The adoption ban applies to 15 countries that allow “sex-change” treatments, including Australia, Argentina, Canada, and several European countries.
Citizens from the United States were previously banned from adopting Russian children in 2012.
In addition, Putin also signed legislation that seeks to promote families.
The pro-family bill bans the spread of material that discourages people from having children.
Those found guilty of promoting anti-child propaganda face fines of up to 5 million rubles (about $50,000).
Proponents of the bills contend that public arguments against having children are part of Western efforts to weaken Russia by encouraging population decline.
The bills were previously approved by both houses of Russia’s parliament.
After being signed by Putin, they have now become Russian law.
Upper house speaker Valentina Matviyenko said she was aware of “concerns” about how the child-free legislation would be interpreted in terms of the personal choices of the Russian people.
However, she stressed the laws would not infringe on the right of individuals not to have children and said society needs to be shielded from “new dangerous phenomena.”
They follow a series of laws that have bolstered longstanding conventional values and suppressed far-left anti-family ideology.
In recent years, Putin and other top officials have increasingly called for observing traditional values to counter Western liberalism.
As Russia’s population declines, Putin has made statements advocating large families.
Last year, the Russian leader urged women to have as many as eight children.
Russia also banned gender-transition medical procedures in 2023.
The Russian Supreme Court declared the LGBTQ+ “movement” to be “extremist.”
In 2022, Putin signed a law prohibiting the distribution of “LGBTQ+ propaganda” to people of all ages, expanding a ban issued in 2013 on disseminating the material to minors.
Putin has repeatedly characterized the West as “satanic” and accused it of trying to undermine Russia by exporting liberal ideologies.
