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Compulsory aids tests for foreigners

By Liz Fekete

1 March 1995

The Russian state duma has passed a bill requiring all foreigners 'who come to Russia for work, study, or for any other purpose' to undergo compulsory aids tests or face deportation.

The bill was passed by 281 votes to three without discussion at its third reading. Deputies added a provision to the bill stipulating that it would be up to the Russian government to implement the bill.

Myles Druckman of the American medical centre, a Moscow clinic catering for foreigners, says the new legislation is 'based on fear-mongering and nationalistic fervour'. Although little more than 100 people have died of aids in Russia since 1987, many Russians blame the West for the rise in prostitiution, pornography etc., since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Last June, Bela Denisyenko, chairman of the Duma's health committee said that sex with a foreigner was '100 times more dangreous than with a Russian'.

Guardian 1, 12.11.94

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