AKIPRESS.COM - Lawmakers from the Russian parliament's lower-house State Duma on Friday approved a ban on legal and surgical sex changes, The Moscow Times reported.

The bill was passed in its third and final reading, banning "medical interventions aimed at changing the sex of a person" and "the state registration of a change of gender without an operation."

According to the legislation, medical commissions will determine a list of allowed interventions related to the treatment of “congenital anomalies, genetic and endocrine diseases associated with the impaired formation of the genital organs in children.”

"This decision will protect our citizens and our children," State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin said on the Telegram messaging app.

He described gender reassignment as “the path leading to the degeneration of the nation,” adding that “this is unacceptable” for Russia.