President Vladimir Putin on Monday signed a controversial law that bans legal and surgical sex changes, a move that deprives transgender Russians of the right to access gender-affirming services.  The law, which makes "medical interventions aimed at changing the sex of a person" and "the state registration of a change of gender without an operation" illegal, was swiftly passed by both houses of the Russian parliament earlier this month.  The law also bans individuals who have undergone gender reassignment from adopting children and annuls marriages in which one of the partners is transgender.  It enters into force immediately upon its publishing on the government website.