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Putin says he will sign the anti-US adoption bill
Source: Agencies |
December 28, 2012, Friday
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RUSSIAN President Vladimir Putin said yesterday he will sign a controversial bill banning Americans from adopting Russian children, a defiant move against the US that has angered some Russians who argue it victimizes children to make a political point.
The law would block dozens of Russian children expected to be adopted by American families from leaving the country and cut off one of the main international routes for Russian children to leave orphanages.
Russia is the single biggest source of adopted children in the US, with more than 60,000 Russian children being taken in by Americans over the past two decades.
The bill is retaliation for an American law that calls for sanctions against Russians deemed to be human rights violators. Kremlin critics say that means Russian officials who own property in the West and send their children to Western schools would lose access to their assets and families.
Putin said US authorities routinely let Americans suspected of violence toward Russian adoptees go unpunished - a clear reference to Dima Yakovlev, a Russian toddler for whom the bill is named.
The child was adopted by Americans and then died in 2008 after his father left him for hours in a car in broiling heat. The father was later found not guilty of involuntary manslaughter.
Putin indicated he would endorse the measure. "I still don't see any reasons why I should not sign it," he told a televised meeting.
US regrets decision
UNICEF estimates there are about 740,000 children without parental custody in Russia, while only 18,000 Russians are now waiting to adopt a child.
The US State Department says it regrets the Russian Parliament's decision to pass the bill, saying it would prevent many children from growing up in families.
Critics of the bill have left dozens of stuffed toys and candles outside the parliament's lower and upper houses to express solidarity with Russian orphans.
Children rights ombudsman Pavel Astakhov on Wednesday said that 46 children who were about to be adopted in the US would remain in Russia in case the bill comes into effect. Yesterday, he petitioned the president to extend the ban to other countries.
"There is huge money and questionable people involved in the semi-legal schemes of exporting children," he tweeted.
The law would block dozens of Russian children expected to be adopted by American families from leaving the country and cut off one of the main international routes for Russian children to leave orphanages.
Russia is the single biggest source of adopted children in the US, with more than 60,000 Russian children being taken in by Americans over the past two decades.
The bill is retaliation for an American law that calls for sanctions against Russians deemed to be human rights violators. Kremlin critics say that means Russian officials who own property in the West and send their children to Western schools would lose access to their assets and families.
Putin said US authorities routinely let Americans suspected of violence toward Russian adoptees go unpunished - a clear reference to Dima Yakovlev, a Russian toddler for whom the bill is named.
The child was adopted by Americans and then died in 2008 after his father left him for hours in a car in broiling heat. The father was later found not guilty of involuntary manslaughter.
Putin indicated he would endorse the measure. "I still don't see any reasons why I should not sign it," he told a televised meeting.
US regrets decision
UNICEF estimates there are about 740,000 children without parental custody in Russia, while only 18,000 Russians are now waiting to adopt a child.
The US State Department says it regrets the Russian Parliament's decision to pass the bill, saying it would prevent many children from growing up in families.
Critics of the bill have left dozens of stuffed toys and candles outside the parliament's lower and upper houses to express solidarity with Russian orphans.
Children rights ombudsman Pavel Astakhov on Wednesday said that 46 children who were about to be adopted in the US would remain in Russia in case the bill comes into effect. Yesterday, he petitioned the president to extend the ban to other countries.
"There is huge money and questionable people involved in the semi-legal schemes of exporting children," he tweeted.
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