The following article has been published on The International Herald Tribune, page 2, on Saturday, November 12, 1994.

House of Russian Parliament

Backs Mandatory AIDS Tests on Foreigners

Reuters MOSCOW - Russia's lower house of Parliament gave the go-ahead Friday for compulsory AIDS tests for foreigners.

Deputies in the State Duma overwhelmingly approved the third reading of the law, which will affect foreigners in Russia "who visit Russia as tourists, students or for any other purpose."

But apparently aware of the alarm among foreigners in Russia, they have made clear that it is up to the government to carry out the legislation as it sees fit.

Critics, including homosexual and other rights groups and members of the diplomatic corps in Moscow, say the law is senseless from a medical point of view and discriminatory. Some say it is symptomatic of latent xenophobia in Russian society.

Deputies approved the legislation on a 281-to-3 vote, without discussion. It must still be passed by the upper house of Parliament and signed into law by President Boris N. Yeltsin.

Under the legislation, foreigners would have to submit to a test for the HIV virus that causes AIDS, or show they had undergone one.

Foreigners refusing to be screened could be forced to leave the country. Anyone tested positive would also be subject to deportation.

The law also obliges Russian citizens working in certain jobs to be tested. Those shown to carry the IHV virus might be barred from certain professions.

A European diplomat said he espected European Union members to make a joint protest to the Russian Foreign Ministry over the issue.

Compulsory screening could deter potential foreign business partners. Moscow will also have to resolve the issue of whether citizens of other countries in the Commonwealth of Independent States, most of which have close ties to Russia, should be classified as foreigners.

Even if the bill became law, it could well be unenforceable for logistical reasons. Russian laboratories, which lag those in the West, would face a daunting prospect in trying to test the hundreds of thousands of foreigners in the country.

State health committee figures issued in May said that 105 people had died of AIDS in Russia since 1987 and that a further 740, including 281 children, had tested positive for the HIV virus.