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Russia opens investigation into the death of adopted boy in US
Source: Agencies |
February 21, 2013, Thursday
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RUSSIAN investigators have opened an inquiry into the death of an adopted 3-year-old boy in the United States in a case that could aggravate a row with Washington over adoptions in Russia.
Russian officials said they are concerned that Maxim Shatto, whose Russian name is Maxim Kuzmin, may have been badly beaten before his death on January 21 in his home in Texas.
Moscow seized on the case as justifying a new law banning adoptions of Russian children by Americans.
"I would like to draw your attention to yet another case of inhumane treatment of a Russian child adopted by American parents," Konstantin Dolgov, the Russian Foreign Ministry's human rights representative, said in a statement.
Shatto was adopted with his younger brother Kirill from an orphanage in Pskov in northwest Russia.
US authorities said the circumstances surrounding the boy's death were under investigation, and the results of an autopsy were pending.
Texas child welfare authorities were also investigating allegations of child abuse and neglect in the case, a process that can take a month or more, Texas Department of Family and Protective Services spokesman Patrick Crimmins said on Tuesday.
Crimmins said one of the main priorities was ensuring the safety of the boy's 2-year-old brother, who remains in the home.
Russia's Investigative Committee, a government body in charge of criminal investigations, has opened 10 investigations into actions suspected of "threatening the lives and health" of Russian-born children in the US.
"The Investigative Committee will take all necessary measures to ensure that the killer of a Russian child suffers the most severe punishment," it said.
In Washington, US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said it was local law enforcement's responsibility to investigate the boy's death.
"It is a terrible tragedy that this child has died. But none of us, not here, not anywhere in the world, should jump to a conclusion about the circumstances until the police have had a chance to investigate," Nuland told reporters.
She said the State Department had been working with the Russian consulate in Houston and the embassy in Washington to put Russian officials in touch with authorities in Texas.
The head of the Russian lower house of parliament's committee for family, women and children called for all children who had already been adopted in America to be returned to Russia.
Russian officials said they are concerned that Maxim Shatto, whose Russian name is Maxim Kuzmin, may have been badly beaten before his death on January 21 in his home in Texas.
Moscow seized on the case as justifying a new law banning adoptions of Russian children by Americans.
"I would like to draw your attention to yet another case of inhumane treatment of a Russian child adopted by American parents," Konstantin Dolgov, the Russian Foreign Ministry's human rights representative, said in a statement.
Shatto was adopted with his younger brother Kirill from an orphanage in Pskov in northwest Russia.
US authorities said the circumstances surrounding the boy's death were under investigation, and the results of an autopsy were pending.
Texas child welfare authorities were also investigating allegations of child abuse and neglect in the case, a process that can take a month or more, Texas Department of Family and Protective Services spokesman Patrick Crimmins said on Tuesday.
Crimmins said one of the main priorities was ensuring the safety of the boy's 2-year-old brother, who remains in the home.
Russia's Investigative Committee, a government body in charge of criminal investigations, has opened 10 investigations into actions suspected of "threatening the lives and health" of Russian-born children in the US.
"The Investigative Committee will take all necessary measures to ensure that the killer of a Russian child suffers the most severe punishment," it said.
In Washington, US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said it was local law enforcement's responsibility to investigate the boy's death.
"It is a terrible tragedy that this child has died. But none of us, not here, not anywhere in the world, should jump to a conclusion about the circumstances until the police have had a chance to investigate," Nuland told reporters.
She said the State Department had been working with the Russian consulate in Houston and the embassy in Washington to put Russian officials in touch with authorities in Texas.
The head of the Russian lower house of parliament's committee for family, women and children called for all children who had already been adopted in America to be returned to Russia.
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