Russia’s American adoptions ban moves on

Published on 27/12/2012 00:00

Russia moved yesterday
toward finalising a ban on Americans adopting Russian children, as parliament’s upper house unanimously voted in
favour of a measure that president Vladimir Putin has indicated he will sign into law.

The bill is widely seen as the Kremlin’s retaliation against an American law that calls for sanctions against Russians deemed to be human rights violators.

Dozens of Russian children close to being adopted by American families now will almost certainly be blocked from leaving the country. The law also cuts off the main international adoption route for Russian children kept in often dismal
orphanages.