Putin signs bill barring U.S. adoptions of Russian children
MOSCOW (AP) - President Vladimir Putin on Friday signed a bill banning Americans from adopting Russian children, part of a harsh response to a U.S. law targeting Russians deemed to be human rights violators.
Although some top Russian officials including the foreign minister openly opposed the bill and Putin himself had been noncommittal about it last week, he signed it less than 24 hours after receiving it from Parliament, where both houses passed it overwhelmingly.
The law also calls for closure of non-governmental organizations receiving American funding if their activities are classified as political - a broad definition many fear could be used to close any NGO that offends the Kremlin.
It was not immediately clear when the law would take effect, but presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying "practically, adoption stops on Jan. 1."
Children's rights ombudsman Pavel Astakhov said 52 children who were in the pipeline for U.S. adoption would remain in Russia.
The bill has angered Americans and Russians who argue it victimizes children to make a political point, cutting off a route out of frequently dismal orphanages for thousands.
"Our unlucky children, our orphans are suffering because they became small change in a political game between two states. This is immoral, this is cannibalism," veteran human rights campaigner Lyudmila Alexeyeva was quoted as saying by the state news agency RIA Novosti.
Vladimir Lukin, head of the Russian Human Rights Commission and a former ambassador to Washington, said he would challenge the law in the Constitutional Court.
UNICEF estimates that there are about 740,000 children not in parental custody in Russia while about 18,000 Russians are on the waiting list to adopt a child. The U.S. is the biggest destination for adopted Russian children - more than 60,000 of them have been taken in by Americans over the past two decades.
Russians historically have been less enthusiastic about adopting children than most Western cultures. Putin, along with signing the adoption ban, on Friday issued an order for the government to develop a program to provide more support for adopted children.
Lev Ponomarev, one of Russia's most prominent human rights activists, hinted at that reluctance when he said Parliament members who voted for the bill should take custody of the children who were about to be adopted.
"The moral responsibility lies on them," he told Interfax. "But I don't think that even one child will be taken to be brought up by deputies of the Duma."
The law is in response to a measure signed into law by President Barack Obama this month that calls for sanctions against Russians assessed to be human rights violators.
That stems from the case of Sergei Magnitsky, a Russian lawyer who was arrested after accusing officials of a $230 million tax fraud. He was repeatedly denied medical treatment and died in jail in 2009. Russian rights groups claimed he was severely beaten and accused the Kremlin of failing to prosecute those responsible; a prison doctor who was the only official charged in the case was acquitted by a Moscow court on Friday.
The U.S. law galvanized Russian resentment of the United States, which Putin has claimed funded and encouraged the wave of massive anti-government protests that arose last winter.
The Parliament initially considered a relatively similar retaliatory measure, but amendments have expanded it far beyond a tit-for-tat response.
Many Russians have been distressed for years by reports of Russian children dying or suffering abuse at the hands of their American adoptive parents. The new Russian law was dubbed the "Dima Yakovlev Bill" after a toddler who died in 2008 when his American adoptive father left him in a car in broiling heat for hours.
Russians also bristled at how the widespread adoptions appeared to show them as hardhearted or too poor to take care of orphans. Astakhov, the children's ombudsman, charged that well-heeled Americans often got priority over Russians who wanted to adopt.
A few lawmakers even claimed that some Russian children were adopted by Americans only to be used for organ transplants or become sex toys or cannon fodder for the U.S. Army. A spokesman with Russia's dominant Orthodox Church said that children adopted by foreigners and raised outside the church will not enter God's kingdom.
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Nataliya Vasilyeva in Moscow contributed to this story.
Although some top Russian officials including the foreign minister openly opposed the bill and Putin himself had been noncommittal about it last week, he signed it less than 24 hours after receiving it from Parliament, where both houses passed it overwhelmingly.
The law also calls for closure of non-governmental organizations receiving American funding if their activities are classified as political - a broad definition many fear could be used to close any NGO that offends the Kremlin.
It was not immediately clear when the law would take effect, but presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying "practically, adoption stops on Jan. 1."
Children's rights ombudsman Pavel Astakhov said 52 children who were in the pipeline for U.S. adoption would remain in Russia.
The bill has angered Americans and Russians who argue it victimizes children to make a political point, cutting off a route out of frequently dismal orphanages for thousands.
"Our unlucky children, our orphans are suffering because they became small change in a political game between two states. This is immoral, this is cannibalism," veteran human rights campaigner Lyudmila Alexeyeva was quoted as saying by the state news agency RIA Novosti.
Vladimir Lukin, head of the Russian Human Rights Commission and a former ambassador to Washington, said he would challenge the law in the Constitutional Court.
UNICEF estimates that there are about 740,000 children not in parental custody in Russia while about 18,000 Russians are on the waiting list to adopt a child. The U.S. is the biggest destination for adopted Russian children - more than 60,000 of them have been taken in by Americans over the past two decades.
Russians historically have been less enthusiastic about adopting children than most Western cultures. Putin, along with signing the adoption ban, on Friday issued an order for the government to develop a program to provide more support for adopted children.
Lev Ponomarev, one of Russia's most prominent human rights activists, hinted at that reluctance when he said Parliament members who voted for the bill should take custody of the children who were about to be adopted.
"The moral responsibility lies on them," he told Interfax. "But I don't think that even one child will be taken to be brought up by deputies of the Duma."
The law is in response to a measure signed into law by President Barack Obama this month that calls for sanctions against Russians assessed to be human rights violators.
That stems from the case of Sergei Magnitsky, a Russian lawyer who was arrested after accusing officials of a $230 million tax fraud. He was repeatedly denied medical treatment and died in jail in 2009. Russian rights groups claimed he was severely beaten and accused the Kremlin of failing to prosecute those responsible; a prison doctor who was the only official charged in the case was acquitted by a Moscow court on Friday.
The U.S. law galvanized Russian resentment of the United States, which Putin has claimed funded and encouraged the wave of massive anti-government protests that arose last winter.
The Parliament initially considered a relatively similar retaliatory measure, but amendments have expanded it far beyond a tit-for-tat response.
Many Russians have been distressed for years by reports of Russian children dying or suffering abuse at the hands of their American adoptive parents. The new Russian law was dubbed the "Dima Yakovlev Bill" after a toddler who died in 2008 when his American adoptive father left him in a car in broiling heat for hours.
Russians also bristled at how the widespread adoptions appeared to show them as hardhearted or too poor to take care of orphans. Astakhov, the children's ombudsman, charged that well-heeled Americans often got priority over Russians who wanted to adopt.
A few lawmakers even claimed that some Russian children were adopted by Americans only to be used for organ transplants or become sex toys or cannon fodder for the U.S. Army. A spokesman with Russia's dominant Orthodox Church said that children adopted by foreigners and raised outside the church will not enter God's kingdom.
___
Nataliya Vasilyeva in Moscow contributed to this story.
This is stupidity at it's finest, politicians need to get a clue. If there not using children then there using we donât like what you said about us and so on. There are more children in Russia that need homes then they have adult population so I have read. The US make is difficult to impossible for people that want to be parents and have a family to adopt, which is why we find so many people going to foreign countries. Not that they do not have to meet a certain criteria for these kids as well but, their system is by far much worse off than ours. Once a child in Russia turns age 4 they are put into main stream housing with kids up to 18 years of age. Of course this is what I read in another article, so I cannot say for certain. Either way yes there are kids in the US that need homes just as much as the Russian kids but, at this point does it matter? A child is a child and they need homes and to use them as a political pawn is ridicules. President Obama and President Putin need to grow up and quit acting like children. You each have your own countries to run, so run them. Agree to disagree and move on. This country is in no shape to tell other countries what to do; we can't even stop killing each other. Once we can accomplish that then maybe we might have a leg to stand on. No I am not against guns! I support having guns but, I also believe they need to be secured and not left available for children or others to get their hands on.
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The other part of this whole thing was caused by two parents that never should have been parents in the first place, to leave a child alone in a hot car is showing how intelligent our own country is NOT!. To send a child back to Russia by themselves with a one-way ticket and a note is again showing how intelligent we are. I have read reports and seen a documentary that older children coming from Russia have shown anger issues. This is not something that people are prepared for nor want, I can understand that. But again, it is a child. There is a couple that has taken in a lot of these children that others could not handle once they started to have these issues. The children are now thriving and living very good lives.Â
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Again because of the few the rest of the people must pay.
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If you are adopting a child from our own country or another country once you take the child into your home you are now responsible for that child. The long and short of it is that Russia was not happy with the outcome of the trial of the child that died because he was left in a hot car and they do not like what was said about their human rights. Get over it! Let whoever wants to adopt adopt.
Just wondering how many, if any, American children were adopted by Russians?
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Likely low to none.
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The Russian population is actually low relative to its enormous size and like most of the developed world is shrinking. Russia is actually shrinking faster than most in that anyone who can leave is leaving except those from the damaged Balkans and from the "-stans" and â-iasâ who are losing populations even faster due to emigration into Russia.
Again, why aren't we adopting American babies? Many in this country oppose abortion so perhaps if we started adopting unwanted American babies we could cut down on the rate of abortion. Or is an American baby not as good as a baby from Russia, India, China or Korea? Makes you wonder.
 @peckishpete If a foreign baby is an orphan, it's in need and deserving of help and the adoptive parents are praised. If problems occur, the parents are admired for doing all they can despite the background of the child.
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If it's an American child, however, the situation is its own fault and it should solve the problem itself or die off so it isn't a burden on the system. If a parent is foolish enough to adopt an American child, and issues occur, they should have known better, and it's their own fault for parenting well enough.
 @peckishpeteÂ
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Because there are a dearth of "babies" but a glut of children.
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Many adopters don't want children. These kids who come from broken homes who are pretty damaged goods are difficult to deal with in many ways. Not only that, but there may be years of family court that still must be dealt with to actually adopt them.
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Then there is of course the government's wand DEEP in your rectum while they make sure YOU are good enough for the kid.
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Very little of this happens in foreign adoptions. Many of the children have long been abandoned or lost all family and the system just wants to unload them.
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This quick and easy access might just be one of the reasons why children adopted from Russia have been treated poorly by adoptive parents, no background checks.
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@Repoman Parents run the same risks adopting overseas in terms of emotional and behavioral problems since many adoptees have lived in sensory deprived conditions in orphanages. So let's get a registry going of parents in this country that would be willing to adopt newborn Americans and perhaps mothers' would take this route vs. abortion. Given the numbers opposing abortion, I would think this registry could be quite large. But I wonder how many of these same folks will actually step up to the plate?
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@peckishpete I've found Repoman's statement regarding "a dearth of 'babies'" to be true. You don't need a registry of those willing to adopt babies because there are already people waiting to adopt them. That wait could take years. There just aren't enough babies put up for adoption, and abortion isn't the culprit. To adopt American is to adopt an older child.
We have lots of kids here that need to be adopted. Â There isnt any need to go to Russia.
 @sortbait Actually, don't. Please.
 @Max Quinn  @sortbaitÂ
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I would not equate sortbait's online presence to their ability to parent. There is a substantive system to assure potential adopters and foster people are suitable for the jobs they are requesting to take on.
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Given the nature of the system, there is a strong need for people to take care of children. Adoption, fostering, I would not preclude anyone from going out and seeing if they can help. It's not my job to vet them, and we need more people.
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@sortbait By all means start adopting.