MOSCOW (AFP) - Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed into law a controversial Bill punishing people for homosexual "propaganda", according to an official publication on Sunday.

The law introduces fines of up to 200,000 rubles (S$8,500) for "propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations" to minors through the media or Internet, which may cause a "distorted understanding" that gay relations and heterosexual relations are "socially equivalent", the law reads.