Russia says ban on American adoptions still in place

PanARMENIAN.Net - Russian officials on Friday, Jan 11 clarified that a recent U.S.-Russian adoption agreement would not overrule the ban on adoptions by U.S. nationals that came into force on January 1, RIA Novosti reported.

“Contrary to some interpretations, the agreement doesn’t say that Russia is obliged to hand over [Russian] children to American adoptive parents,” spokesman of the Foreign Ministry Alexander Lukashevich said.

A Kremlin spokesman said on Thursday that the U.S.-Russian adoption agreement enacted in November would remain in force until year’s end, sparking confusion in the media and raising false hopes for American families hoping to adopt Russian children.

“The agreement is in force at the moment,” President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said, adding that “it will be in force over the course of the year.”

Russian children’s ombudsman Pavel Astakhov said Friday that the fate of every child whose adoption was approved by a court prior to the New Year, but not completed in terms of paperwork and travel, would be decided on a case-by-case basis.

“I’m waiting for the list from [Education and Science] Minister Livanov. A decision will be made on each case, and the Foreign Ministry is working out the procedure,” Astakhov said. U.S. State Department officials said Thursday they had been contacted by about 950 individuals who were in the process of adopting Russian children when the adoption ban came into effect. Apparently, only a handful of them will be allowed to complete their adoptions.