Russian adoption law drags children into battle with US

PRESIDENT Vladimir Putin has signed a law banning Americans from adopting Russian children, abruptly terminating the prospects for more than 50 youngsters preparing to join new families and sparking critics to liken him to King Herod.

The move is part of a response to a United States law targeting Russians deemed to be human rights violators.

Although some leading Russian officials, including the foreign minister, openly opposed the bill, Mr Putin signed it less than 24 hours after receiving it from parliament, where it passed both houses with overwhelming support.

The law takes effect from 1 January, the Kremlin said. Children’s rights ombudsman Pavel Astakhov said 52 children who were due for US adoption would remain in Russia.

The ban 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 (£140m) tax fraud.

He was repeatedly denied medical treatment and died in jail in November 2009. Russian rights groups claimed he was severely beaten.

A prison doctor, Dmitry Kratov, who was the only official charged in the case, was acquitted by a Moscow court on yesterday.

Although there was no

demonstrable connection to Mr Putin’s signing the law a few hours later, the timing underlines what critics say is Russia’s refusal to pursue the case.

The adoption ban has angered both Americans and Russians, who argue it victimises children to make a political point, cutting off a route out of frequently dismal orphanages for thousands.

“The king is Herod,” writer Oleg Shargunov said on his Twitter account, referring to the Roman-appointed king of Judea at the time of Jesus Christ’s birth, who the Bible says ordered the massacre of Jewish children to avoid being supplanted by a prophesied newborn king of the Jews.

A painting depicting the massacre and captioned “an appropriate response to the Magnitsky act” spread widely on the internet. The phrase echoed Mr Putin’s characterisation of the ban while it was under consideration.

US state department spokesman Patrick Ventrell expressed regret over Mr Putin’s signing the law and urged Russia to “allow those children who have already met and bonded with their future parents to finish the necessary legal procedures so that they can join their families”.

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 US 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.