MOSCOW, June 21 (Itar-Tass) - The State Duma will debate a draft law on support to orphans on the third, and final, reading on Friday, June 21.
The draft law lays the groundwork for systemic support to both families in dire straits to help them keep their children and families that have decided to adopt children.
The document increases the adoption allowance from the current level of 13,087 roubles to 100,000 roubles. It also allows Russian orphans to undergo medical treatment abroad at the expense of the federal budget.
The draft law also bans the adoption of Russian children by foreign same-sex parents.
Earlier, the Duma Committee on the Family, Women and Children advised the lower house to approve the amendment that bans the adopting Russian children by same-sex parents .
Fourteen countries of the world have allowed same-sex marriages. The latest to join them was France. On May 18, 2013, French President Francois Hollande signed the law legalising same-sex marriages.
Following the passage of the French law allowing same sex marriages and adoption of children by such pairs, Russia needs to “take a closer look” at the Russian-French agreement on adoptions, Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin said.
“The document says in particular that the decision on the adoption of Russian children is made by Russian courts in accordance with Russian laws,” Karasin said at a joint meeting of the Duma committees on international relations and on the family, women and children on Thursday, June 13.
State Duma Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Alexei Pushkov called for a ban on the adoption of Russian children in countries where same-sex marriages are allowed.
“This is my personal position,” he told ITAR-TASS, but stressed that Russian children must not be allowed to be adopted by homosexual couples.
Pushkov said the adoption agreement with France will be revised, as a minimum, or even denounced.
“Since France has not ratified this document, our hands are free. I don’t think Russia needs this agreement more than France does,” he said.
The MP spoke against concluding agreements with countries that allow same-sex marriages. “We have considered the possibility of signing an adoption agreement at the initiative of the government of Iceland, but since this country allows same-sex marriages, I think this agreement is doomed. And this should become our general stance,” Pushkov said.
In his opinion, a ban on the adoption of Russian children in countries where same-sex marriages are allowed should be imposed by national legislation.
The chairperson of the Duma Committee on the Family, Women and Children, Yelena Mizulina, told ITAR-TASS that the lower house of parliament is ready to “solve the question of protecting Russian children at the level of national legislation” and several relevant draft laws have already been submitted to the Duma.
France has become the 114th country to have legalised same-sex marriages. The first marriage under the new law may be made already in June.
According to the Duma, 278 Russian children were adopted in France in 2009; 304 in 2010; and 283 in 2011.