MOSCOW, October 30 /TASS/. Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists on Thursday that it was too early to speak about Kremlin’s stance on a bill establishing fines for homosexuals. "We have not seen the text so far. So it is hard for us to say whether we support the bill or not. We do not know what it’s all about," Peskov said.
Two deputies from the Russian Communist Party faction in the Russian State Duma, Ivan Nikitchuk and Nikolay Arefyev, on Thursday submitted a bill that establishes fines for homosexuals who come out to express their non-traditional sexual relations in public to the lower house of Russian parliament.
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The Communists suggest introducing a new article /Public Expression of Non-Traditional Sexual Relations/ to the Russian Code of Administrative Offences. According to the new bill, any demonstration of non-traditional sexual preferences in public places, if such actions are not subject to criminal prosecution, will be punishable by fines ranging from 4,000 to 5,000 roubles /from 57 to 71 euros/. People who do such things in the territories or premises of educational and cultural establishments or at institutions in charge of youth affairs may be arrested for up to 15 days on charges of committing an administrative offence.
The bill is designed to raise the efficiency of cracking down on pedophilia in Russian society. "Everywhere where propaganda is used to spread same sex relationship, pedophilia inevitably goes hand in hand with homosexualism despite all attempts by homosexuals to conceal this fact," the bill’s authors wrote in an explanatory note.
Meanwhile, Dmitry Vyatkin (United Russia), the deputy head of the State Duma Committee for Constitutional Legislation and State Construction, has described the bill as superfluous.