Vladimir Putin backs plan to make US adoptions from Russia illegal But the Russian strongman indicated that he would sign the adoption ban into law. "I understand that this was an emotional response by the State Duma, but I think that it was appropriate," Putin said. I have not seen the law yet. I do not know its details - I have not seen the text," he said. But yes, I have said I support it. The only question is how exactly it will look. His comments came as the latest reminder of the chilling in relations between former Cold War foes Russia and the US since Putin returned to the Kremlin for his third term earlier this year. Much of the latest mistrust stems from Putin's often-repeated belief that Washington was responsible for inciting mass protests last winter against the former KGB agent returning to Russia's top office. But modern Russia's longest-serving politician also used specific examples of US court cases involving his countrymen that he said showcased the failures of the Western justice system. Putin complained especially bitterly that local US courts had found several Americans not guilty of manslaughter charges following the death of Russian children under their care. The Russian legislation - awaiting final approval in the Duma lower house of parliament on Friday - is named in honour of a Russian child who suffocated in a locked car during the summer heat in the United States in 2008. "The judges will not even let us attend (the US trials) as observers," Putin said. Russia's new legislation came about after US President Barack Obama last week signed into law the so-called Magnitsky Act, named in honour of a Russian lawyer who died in custody in Moscow in 2009 after blowing the whistle on a $235 million police embezzlement scheme. Magnitsky died in pretrial detention that his mother said had exposed him to "torture conditions." Putin said the United States had no moral right to pass judgment on Russia's legal system. "They themselves have plenty of problems," Putin said. I have already talked about this: listen, Abu Ghraib ... Guantánamo. Putin said the US authorities "are holding people in jail for years without charging them. That is unbelievable. "And what's more they don't just hold them in prison without charge, they hold them in shackles, like in the medieval ages," Putin fumed. Inside their own country they have legalised torture. Can you imagine if anything like that happened in our country? Putin denied that he has run an authoritarian system in his country with a history of totalitarian regimes. "If I considered an authoritarian or totalitarian system preferable, I would have simply changed the constitution," Putin said. It was easy enough to do. Putin travels to Brussels later on Thursday to attend a Russia-EU summit that comes amid Moscow's own set of disputes with the 27-nation European bloc. EU officials have recently raised concerns about their continued dependence on Russian energy and are also voicing displeasure with Putin's rights record. Putin for his part has long been trying without success to win visa-free European travel for Russian citizens.