The following article has been published on "The Moscow Times", page 3, on Saturday, November 12, 1994.

Weakened Version Of AIDS Bill Passed

By Leonid Bershidsky

The State Duma on Friday passed the third, final reading of an anti-AIDS bill that says all foreigners coming to Russia must undergo an AIDS test or face deportation.

But the legislators, many of whom favor obligatory AIDS testing for not only foreigners but also any Russians suspected of being homosexuals or prostitutes, ended up passing a version of the bill that may have more bark than bite.

Passed without discussion by 281 votes for to three against, the bill now transfers to the government responsibility for mapping out the obligatory testing procedures and deciding how to test all foreigners living in Russia or entering the country, a proposition some experts have declared impossible.

Top health officials said after the second reading of the bill that they saw no way to implement the costly compulsory testing requirement and that they would do their best to soften the bill.

Now it falls to them to define the mechanism for implementing the law, which will in order to come into effect must still be approved by the upper house of parliament and President Boris Yeltsin.

"The bill is considerably softened now," said Vladimir Usanov, spokesman for the Duma's Health Care Committee which drafted the bill. "Now the government will get it into a reasonable framework."

One of the tiny minority of three deputies who voted against the bill, Vyacheslav Nikonov, said he too was sure it was no longer as tough as before.

"Now there is a cushion against really harsh effects of this law," he said. "It's up to the government to decide now."

Usanov believes the government would not enforce the mandatory testing rule for all foreigners. "The government will just let it slide," he said.

"Frankly, I don't understand how they would test all foreigners," he added.

"I understand them when they say they don't want to be tested. Everybody can see that nobody's going to drag them to a Russian clinic for tests."

Usanov said Health Care Committee chairwoman Bella Denisenko only advocated testing for foreign residents of Russia, a requirement that some other nations like China currently impose.

When hardline deputies forced her to amend the law to require tests from more foreigners and Russians, she complied, but she did not block the change leaving the final word to the government.

Denisenko made no introductory remarks when she presented the third reading of the bill, and the deputies voted immediately to approve it with no one bringing the change to their attention.

AIDS awareness groups picketed the Duma prior to the discussion, giving away leaflets and condoms.

In the end, however, it may not be education but customary Russian red tape that will ultimately defeat what many have called a xenophobic bill.