Russian President Vladimir Putin backed a controversial tit-for-tat amendment that would ban U.S. citizens from adopting Russian children at a Dec 20 press conference, according to RIA Novosti.

“It’s an emotional, but adequate response,” Putin said, answering the first query of many at a question-and-answer session with about 1,000 Russian and foreign journalists, the first of this scale in his third presidential term.

The proposed amendment banning U.S. adoptions is part of a larger bill retaliating for the enactment of the Magnitsky Act in the United States, which imposes visa bans and asset freezes on Russian officials deemed guilty of human rights abuses. The U.S. law was passed simultaneously with the lifting of the 1974 Jackson-Vanik amendment, which had tied trade relations with the Soviet Union to the emigration of Jews and other Soviet minorities.

“They [the United States] replaced one anti-Soviet, anti-Russian law with another. They can't do without it,” Putin said, adding that Washington’s decision will mar bilateral relations.

The ban on U.S. adoptions has sparked a public outcry among both officials and civic groups. Critics say the move will strand thousands of children, especially those with disabilities, in Russia’s outdated state institutions.

Since 1999, parents in the United States have adopted more than 45,000 Russian children, including 962 last year, according to the U.S. State Department. Russian officials claim at least 19 Russian children adopted by Americans have died in that period, Russia's ombudsman for children's rights has said.