State Duma deputies unanimously adopted at third reading a law prohibiting distribution of materials promoting non-traditional sexual relationships or preferences.
The amendments were authored by State Duma Chairman Vyacheslav Volodin, all faction leaders and more than 300 deputies.
Propaganda will be prohibited among both minors and adults. Propaganda of paedophilia and gender reassignment is also banned. “This decision will protect our children and the country’s future from the darkness spread by the United States and European states. We have our own traditions and values,” Vyacheslav Volodin wrote on his Telegram channel.
The law provides for adding such websites to the prohibited register and subsequently blocking them, and bans the sale of goods, including foreign goods, containing prohibited information.
Paid audiovisual services will allow access to this information only through a special code confirming the user’s age. Where technically impossible, dissemination of such information will be prohibited.
The law also expands advertising requirements: advertisements must not contain information showing non-traditional sexual relationships or preferences. Films promoting such relationships will not receive a distribution certificate.
During plenary discussion of the amendments, the State Duma chairman recalled that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken had earlier asked deputies to withdraw the bill. Vyacheslav Volodin said parliamentarians' unanimous support for banning promotion of same-sex relationships was "the best response to Blinken".
"Do not impose alien values on us. You have destroyed your own; we will see how it ends, but certainly sadly, because it is Sodom—there is no other word—and the United States has become the centre of this Sodom in the world. Let them live there and leave us alone," Vyacheslav Volodin said.
Amendments to the Code of Administrative Offences concerning penalties for failure to comply with the ban also passed their third reading.
Violating the ban on promoting non-traditional sexual relationships or preferences among people of any age will carry fines of RUB 50,000–400,000 for individuals, RUB 100,000–800,000 for officials, and RUB 800,000–5 million for legal entities, or suspension of their activities for up to 90 days.
Violation of the ban on promoting paedophilia carries fines of RUB 200,000–800,000 for individuals, RUB 400,000–2 million for officials, and RUB 1–10 million for legal entities, or suspension of activities for up to 90 days.
Distributing to minors information showing non-traditional sexual relationships or capable of prompting a wish to change sex will also entail fines: 50,000–200,000 rubles for individuals, 100,000–400,000 for officials, and 800,000–4 million rubles or suspension of activity for up to 90 days for legal entities.
Foreign nationals and stateless people may face expulsion from the Russian Federation for these violations.