St. Petersburg, June 26 (RAPSI) - Russia's upper house of parliament, the Federation Council, has approved a bill introducing administrative liability with fines of up to 1 million rubles ($30,990) for promoting non-traditional sexual relationships among children, particularly via the media, the Internet, and viral advertising.

Earlier, the bill was adopted in the second and third readings by the State Duma, Russia's lower house.

The bill submitted to the Duma in March 2012 stipulates that anyone involved in the promotion of homosexuality among children will be fined 4,000 ($127) to 5,000 rubles ($159). If a promoter holds an official post, he or she will have to pay 40,000 ($1,270) to 50,000 rubles ($1,586), while companies will have to pay 400,000 ($12,690) to 500,000 rubles ($15,863).

The punishment will be even harsher if the promoter has used the media or the Internet as a channel to promote homosexuality. Individuals will be fined 50,000 ($1,586) to 100,000 rubles ($3,170), officials will have to pay 100,000 rubles ($3,170) to 200,000 rubles ($6,345), and companies will have to pay 1 million rubles or face a 90-day suspension of operations.

The bill was backed by 463 MPs, while one abstained. The required number of votes to pass legislation is 226.

The bill stipulates punishment for foreign nationals and stateless persons separately. They will face deportation in addition to the regular fine applicable to Russians, or a 15-day detention and deportation.

The promotion of homosexuality is defined as the proliferation of information aimed at fostering unconventional sexual concepts in children, describing homosexual relations as attractive, creating a distorted idea of conventional relations between sexes being of the same social value as homosexual relations, and imposing information on children that sparks an interest in homosexual relations.