MOSCOW, December 26 - RAPSI. Some 56 percent of Russians support a proposed ban on US adoptions of Russian children, an opinion poll conducted by the Public Opinion Foundation (FOM) said on Tuesday.

A total of 21 percent of the respondents were against the ban and 23 percent had no opinion. Most of the people surveyed backed tougher requirements for foreigners who want to adopt Russian children, the poll revealed.

Most of the respondents also believe that Russian orphans should remain in Russia, FOM director Alexander Oslon said.

The survey of 1,500 people in 100 cities and towns across 46 Russian regions was conducted over the weekend.

The ban on US adoptions was introduced by Russian lawmakers as part of bill responding to the US Magnitsky Act. It has already been passed in three readings by Russia’s lower house of parliament and will be considered at a Federation Council session on Wednesday.

State Duma lawmakers said the bill was a response to what they called the inaction of US officials over the deaths of 19 Russian children adopted by Americans since 1999. Over 45,000 Russian children, including 962 last year, have been adopted by US families in that period, according to the US State Department.

The adoption ban proposal has drawn a furious reaction from human rights groups and a number of people were detained in Moscow last week as they protested against the bill outside parliament.