Moscow has banned the adoption of Russian children to countries where gender transition is allowed

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday signed a law banning the adoption of Russian children by citizens of countries where gender transition is legal.

The Kremlin leader also approved a law banning the distribution of materials urging people not to have children.

The bills, which were previously approved by both houses of the Russian parliament, follow a series of laws that suppress sexual minorities and reinforce long-held common values.

The speaker of the lower house of the Russian Federation, Vyacheslav Volodin, who was among the authors of the new bill, said in a Telegram message in July that “it is extremely important to eliminate possible dangers in the form of gender reassignment that adopted children in these countries may face.”

The adoption ban will apply to at least 15 countries, most of which are in Europe, as well as Australia, Argentina and Canada. The adoption of Russian children by US citizens was banned in 2012.

Other bills approved Saturday would ban what they call childlessness propaganda and impose fines of up to 5 million rubles (about $50,000). Her supporters argued that public arguments against childbearing were part of a perceived Western effort to weaken Russia by encouraging population decline.

Putin and other senior officials have in recent years increasingly called for so-called traditional values ​​as opposed to Western liberalism. As Russia’s population declines, Putin has made statements in defense of large families and last year encouraged women to have up to eight children.

Last year, Russia banned medical procedures for gender reassignment, and its Supreme Court declared the “LGBTQ+ movement” extremist.

In 2022, Putin signed a law banning the dissemination of LGBTQ+ information to people of all ages, expanding a 2013 ban on disseminating material to minors.

Since he sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022, the Kremlin leader has repeatedly characterized the West as “satanic” and accused it of trying to undermine Russia by exporting liberal ideologies.

Independent journalists, critics, activists and opposition figures in Russia have come under increasing pressure from the government in recent years, which has intensified significantly against the backdrop of the conflict in Ukraine. Hundreds of non-governmental groups and individuals have been designated as “foreign agents,” a label that implies additional government oversight and carries strong pejorative connotations.