U.S. regrets Russia’s approval of U.S. adoptions ban

PanARMENIAN.Net - The United States said Wednesday, Dec 26, that it regrets Russian lawmakers’ approval of a bill that would ban U.S. adoptions of Russian children, saying the legislation would deny many young people a childhood outside state custody, RIA Novosti reported.

Russia’s upper house of parliament on Wednesday unanimously voted in favor of the legislation, which is part of Russia’s legal retaliation to the U.S. Magnitsky Act. The newly minted U.S. law denies visas to Russian officials deemed by Washington to be complicit in human rights abuses and freezes their U.S. assets.

“It is misguided to link the fate of children to unrelated political considerations,” U.S. State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell said of the Russian bill in a statement released Wednesday.

The bill, already passed by Russia’s lower house of parliament, will be sent for consideration to Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has already voiced support for the ban, though he has the option to veto the bill as well.

Ventrell said Wednesday that U.S. families have given homes to more than 60,000 Russian children over the past 20 years. “The bill passed by Russia’s parliament would prevent many children from enjoying this opportunity,” he said.

UNICEF says there are about 740,000 children without parental care in Russia,

If Putin signs the bill, it will become law on Jan 1, halting the adoption of 46 Russian children by U.S. families whose cases are currently being processed, said Pavel Astakhov on Wednesday, Russia’s ombudsman for child rights.

The adoption ban bill headed for Putin’s desk is named after a two-year-old Russian boy, Dima Yakovlev (Chase Harrison), who died in 2008 after being left in a car by his adoptive U.S. father, who was later acquitted of manslaughter.