Interfax: Matviyenko calls decrease in number of orphans unprecedented

Valentina Matviyenko file photo

MOSCOW. Nov 28 (Interfax) – The number of orphans has halved in Russia, which is unprecedented by world standards, Federation Council Chairwoman Valentina Matviyenko said at a meeting of the president’s coordination council on the implementation of the national child action strategy for 2012-2017. “I deem our achievements in addressing the problem of social orphans to be crucial. Our joint […]

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A gaffe too far: Russia’s controversial children’s rights ombudsman resigns

Pavel Astakhov file photo, adapted from image at state.gov

Pavel Astakhov, whose tactless and cynical comments made him deeply unpopular with many Russians and who came to international prominence for supporting the law banning foreigners from adopting Russian children, is to leave his post. (Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – OLEG YEGOROV, RBTH – July 6, 2016) Pavel Astakhov, who has gained notoriety abroad for his active support […]

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Number of Orphaned Russian Children Falls by Half

File Photo of Russian Orphans with Mr. and Mrs. Dmitry Medvedev

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – December 11, 2015) The number of children in Russian orphanages has decreased by half over the past three years, the Interfax news agency reported, citing deputy Prime Minister Olga Golodets. “In 2012, we had 119,000 orphans in our database, … now there are 73,000 orphaned children in Russia,” Golodets said, Interfax reported Friday. Despite a […]

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Adoption in Russia: Families Helping Families

Russian Orphanage file photo

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Alexandra Tyan – August 27, 2015) It would be hard to find a better advocate for adoption in Russia than Ulia Khashem. With her pink curls, big eyes and handmade jewelry, it’s easy to see why people on social media call her a fairy godmother. Her job is to organize a summer camp for seriously […]

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New Moscow centers give parentless children a live-in mother

Aerial View of Moscow From Beyond Stadium, file photo

(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Tatyana Sudakova, special to RBTH – April 9, 2014) A new breed of children’s home is springing up around Moscow to replace the city’s orphanages. Here parentless children have the chance to get used to a family environment by living in comfortable modern surroundings with a “mother” who spends five days a week […]

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Domestic Adoptions Policy Showing Results, Astakhov Says

Russian Orphanage file photo

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Natalya Krainova – January 21, 2014) The number of Russian orphans and abandoned children has dropped from 140,000 to a little under 107,000 in the past five years, due to state policies encouraging domestic adoptions, children’s ombudsman Pavel Astakhov said Monday. Following the controversial ban on U.S. adoptions that took effect in January 2013, the […]

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Interfax: Over 65,000 children were adopted in Russia in 2013 – Astakhov

Pavel Astakhov file photo

MOSCOW. Jan 16 (Interfax) – The number of children adopted in Russia went up almost 7% in 2013, Russian presidential children’s rights ombudsman Pavel Astakhov said. “In 2013, 65,600 children were adopted, which is a 6.7% increase from the previous year,” Astakhov told a press conference. At the same time, Astakhov said there were no special financial incentives for people […]

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VIDEO: U.S. Ambassador McFaul Says No Boycott Of Sochi Olympics, Addresses U.S.-Russian Relations, Ukraine, Adoptions, other issues

Ambassador Mike McFaul file photo

Ambassador Michael McFaul, U.S. Ambassador to the Russian Federation, addresses U.S.-Russian Relations, Ukraine, the Sochi Olympics, adoptions and other matters, in this video by RFE/RL’s Russian Service. McFaul is interviewed in Russian, with English subtitles. The video was dated December 17, 2013.

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Interfax: Most orphans who did not go to U.S. were adopted by Russian families – diplomat

Russian Orphanage file photo

MOSCOW. Nov 26 (Interfax) – Most Russian orphans whose adoption by American families was prohibited by the Dima Yakovlev law have already been adopted by Russian citizens or have been returned to their biological mothers, Konstantin Dolgov, the Russian Foreign Ministry’s human rights envoy, told Interfax on Tuesday. “Most of these children have already been transferred to their new Russian […]

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Number of Orphans Six Times Larger Than Russians Ready to Adopt

File Photo of Russian Orphans with Mr. and Mrs. Dmitry Medvedev

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – November 19, 2013) For every six orphans awaiting adoption in Russia, there is only one family in the country hoping to take in a child, government statistics show. More than 100,000 orphans are listed in a registry maintained by the Education and Science Ministry, the head of its child protection department, Yevgeny Silyanov said, Interfax […]

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Interfax: Demographic situation in Russia among reasons behind U.S. adoption ban – Astakhov

File Photo of Russian Orphans with Mr. and Mrs. Dmitry Medvedev

MOSCOW. Nov 13 (Interfax) – One of the reasons why Russia has banned U.S. citizens from adopting Russian children is the demographic issue, Russian children’s rights commissioner Pavel Astakhov said. “We have a demographic forecast: the infant population in Russia will be about 22 million by 2025. And the United States will have 105 [million] by 2025. Is there a […]

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Russians Back Domestic Adoptions but Don’t Want to Be Parents

File Photo of Russian Orphans with Mr. and Mrs. Dmitry Medvedev

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – November 13, 2013) While most Russians believe that orphans should be adopted by Russian families, only 16 percent are willing to bring a child into their homes, according to a survey released Wednesday. Some 62 percent of Russians say that growing up in an adoptive family is better than in a Russian orphanage, and more […]

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Interfax: Russia has fewer orphans but too few of them find new families – Astakhov

File Photo of Russian Orphans with Mr. and Mrs. Dmitry Medvedev

MOSCOW. Nov 12 (Interfax) – Russia has fewer children without parents – the number of orphans registered yearly dropped 40%, Russian children’s rights commissioner Pavel Astakhov said. At the same time, the number of children in orphanages is “unacceptably high,” Astakhov said. The commissioner spoke at an all-Russian congress of orphanage heads on Tuesday. Russian courts rule less often in […]

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Only ‘One of 33 Orphans’ Denied U.S. Adoption Finds Russian Home

Russian Orphanage file photo

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – November 6, 2013) Out of the 33 St. Petersburg orphans who were set to be given new homes by U.S. families last year before their moves were blocked by Russian legislation, only one has been legally adopted by Russian parents, a news report said. The 33 children already had potential American families, but were prevented […]

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Domestic Adoptions Expected to Double

Russian Orphanage file photo

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Natalya Krainova – October 8, 2013) Ten months after the government banned adoptions of Russian children by U.S. citizens, authorities say the number of children adopted domestically will more than double by this year’s end amid increased state allowances. Thanks to a range of government measures, the number of adopted children in the country will […]

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Russia, U.S. have a lot in common in children’s rights protection issues – Astakhov

Pavel Astakhov file photo

(Interfax – KHANTY-MANSIYSK. September 23, 2013) Russia and the U.S. are running into similar problems with the protection of the rights of children left without parental care, Russian presidential children’s rights ombudsman Pavel Astakhov said. “The number of adopted children and the number of children living in foster families is about the same in Russia and the United States. For […]

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Astakhov confirms commitment to ban adoption of Russian children for U.S. citizens

Pavel Astakhov file photo

(Interfax – September 23, 2013) The demands to rescind the law banning U.S. citizens from adopting Russian children are inhumane, bizarre and anti-patriotic, Russian children’s rights commissioner Pavel Astakhov said. “Any normal person should take the speculations and absolutely unlawful demands of certain abhorrent politicians and public activists [in Russia and in the United States] to cancel the ban, to […]

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U.S. provides list of 60,000 children previously adopted in Russia – Astakhov

File Photo of Russian Orphans with Mr. and Mrs. Dmitry Medvedev

(Interfax – MOSCOW, August 12, 2013) The U.S. authorities have provided Russia with a list of children adopted by U.S. families in Russia in the past, Russian children’s rights commissioner Pavel Astakhov said. “The list has 61,625 children. But these are those whom adoptive parents brought from Russia into the country officially, with a migration visa,” Astakhov said in an […]

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1,700 children live in Moscow region orphanages, over 22,000 have already found families – Astakhov

File Photo of Russian Orphans with Mr. and Mrs. Dmitry Medvedev

(Interfax – DUBNA, Moscow region, July 23, 2013) The number of children who live in orphanages in the Moscow region has decreased by more than 22,000 in the past year, Russian children’s rights commissioner Pavel Astakhov said. “Whereas there were 124,000 orphans in Russia in 2008, last year this figure stood at 74,700. It was an almost 50% reduction. Of […]

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Russian Orphans Receive ‘Oscars’ for Filmmaking

File Photo of Russian Orphans with Mr. and Mrs. Dmitry Medvedev

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Simone Peek – June 14, 2013) International news and changing regulations around orphaned children have been in a whirlwind since January’s Dima Yakovlev law: the ban on the adoption of Russian children by Americans. Amidst the political turmoil are, of course, the orphans themselves. Charity organization “Krilya” (Wings) decided to give children living in orphanages […]

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Russian orphans trapped in poverty

Russian Orphanage file photo

(Business New Europe – bne.eu – Julia Reed in Moscow – June 3, 2013) Much has been said about the miserable plight of Russian orphans, especially following the recent ban on all American adoption in Russia in retribution for Congress’ so-called “Magnitsky Act”, which penalizes some Russian officials on human rights grounds. After decades of inaction, suddenly the issue has […]

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Adoption of Russian children by foreign families down 70 percent in five years – Astakhov

Russian Orphanage file photo

(Interfax – May 30, 2013) The number of Russian orphans adopted by foreign families has dipped by 70 percent in the past five years, Russian Children’s Rights Ombudsman Pavel Astakhov said. “The number of children adopted by foreign families has declined; the decline has been rather significant. Even before January 1, 2013 [when the Dima Yakovlev law entered into force] […]

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Russia refuses to let Americans adopt 33 children

File Photo of Russian Orphans with Mr. and Mrs. Dmitry Medvedev

(Interfax – ST. PETERSBURG, May 21, 2013) Thirty-three orphans, including 12 disabled children, who were supposed to be adopted by U.S. nationals, will be unable to join their would-be parents because of this year’s Russian ban on the adoption of Russian children by Americans, the office of the St. Petersburg commissioner for children’s rights said on Tuesday. The commissioner, Svetlana […]

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Kerry Lauds US-Russia Work on ‘Big-Ticket’ Issues

File Photo of Vladimir Putin Leaning Towards Barack Hussein Obama With Flags Behind Them

(RIA Novosti -WASHINGTON, April 17, 2013) ­ US Secretary of State John Kerry on Wednesday praised cooperation between the United States and Russia on a range of issues and said he is “hopeful” that the two countries can bolster bilateral ties despite disagreements over adoptions and human rights. “Even though there have been some bumps in the road, I am […]

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Foreigners adopt far more disabled children than Russians – deputy minister

File Photo of Back of Wheelchari with Line of Persons in Business Dress in Background

(Interfax – March 22, 2013) According to data from the Russian Education and Science Ministry, over the last few years foreign citizens have adopted several times more disabled children than Russians have, privately-owned Interfax news agency reported on 22 March. “If we look at the number of disabled children adopted, we see that for Russian citizens this is 40 in […]

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Golodets: 118,000 Orphans in State Care

Russian Orphanage file photo

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimews.com – Jonathan Earle – March 22, 2013) There are about 118,000 orphans in Russian state care, and the number of domestic adoptions fell from 2011 to 2012, senior government officials told State Duma deputies on Friday. The updated figures could bring clarity to a national debate about how to reduce the number of children in state […]

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Most of Russian Cabinet Against US Adoption Ban – Deputy PM

File Photo of Russian Orphans with Mr. and Mrs. Dmitry Medvedev

MOSCOW, March 20 (RIA Novosti) ­ The majority of Russian ministers are against a recently approved ban on US nationals adopting Russian children, Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich said Wednesday. “A lot of people in the Cabinet, the majority, were against the legislation, at least in the form it was passed,” Dvorkovich said at a meeting with students, the Prime […]

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Two-Thirds of Russians Support Banning Foreign Adoptions – Poll

File Photo of Russian Orphans with Mr. and Mrs. Dmitry Medvedev

(Interfax – Moscow, March 11, 2013) The number of Russians, who support the ban on the adoption of Russian children by foreign citizens, has been increasing. Currently, 64 per cent of citizens are supporters of this position, a poll carried out by VTsIOM (All-Russia Public Opinion Research Centre) in early March has shown. According to the poll, 53 per cent […]

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Five Myths About Max Shatto’s Death

Russian Foreign Ministry Building Tower file photo

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Michael Bohm – March 7, 2013) Michael Bohm is opinion page editor of The Moscow Times. Shortly after Maxim Kuzmin was born to an alcoholic mother in the Pskov region three years ago, Russian child welfare officials placed him, and later his younger brother, in an orphanage after concluding that the mother was unfit to […]

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Kerry, Lavrov Tackle Syria, Adoptions in ‘Constructive’ Talks

Syria Map

BERLIN, February 26 (RIA Novosti) ­The United States and Russia will do “everything possible” to facilitate a dialogue between the Syrian government and the armed opposition, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Tuesday in Berlin following his first bilateral meeting with US Secretary of State John Kerry. “No one will solve the Syrians’ problems for them, but in order for […]

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‘Cloud Atlas,’ Russian style; How a bizarre adoption drama can be traced back to Magnitsky’s death

File Photo of Vladimir Putin Leaning Towards Barack Hussein Obama With Flags Behind Them

(Moscow News – themoscownews.com – Anna Arutunyan – February 25, 2013) Anna Arutunyan is the politics editor of The Moscow News A story needs a beginning and end, but what has become the main narrative of Russia’s current political era doesn’t seem to have either. And the weak are meat the strong do eat, as David Mitchell coined in his […]

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Lavrov sees some progress in U.S. on adoptions

Sergei Lavrov file photo

MOSCOW. Feb 25 (Interfax) – Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov believes the U.S. administration in the past few weeks has manifested a wish to influence the administrations of the U.S. states to resolve problems of Russian children adopted by U.S. citizens. “They have a wish to do it. We have seen some attempts to influence the administrations of the states. […]

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Situation with orphans in Russia is more important than debate on foreign adoptions – Putin

File Photo of Russian Orphans with Mr. and Mrs. Dmitry Medvedev

NOVO-OGARYOVO. Feb 20 (Interfax) – Russian President Vladimir Putin said the living conditions of orphans in Russia are much more important than the current debate on adoptions. “We are now actively discussing the work with foreign adoptions, which is, of course, an important thing, but not the main thing. What is more important is the way children, who have been […]

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Latest Orphan Death Sparks Official Furor

Duma Session file photo

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Jonathan Earle – February 20, 2013) With striking unanimity and furor, senior officials and lawmakers on Tuesday condemned the latest death of an adopted Russian child in the United States, saying the incident vindicates the government’s controversial decision to ban U.S. adoptions. “The death of one more Russian child in the United States has at […]

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Russian senators call for return of all Russian children adopted by U.S. families

File Photo of Russian Orphans with Mr. and Mrs. Dmitry Medvedev

(Interfax – February 20, 2013) The Federation Council’s meeting on Wednesday began with the issue of the death in the U.S. of Maxim Kuzmin, 3, who was adopted by U.S. citizens. Senators did not hide their outrage with what has occurred, and each of them tried to communicate his position on the matter. Nikolai Kondratenko, former governor of the Krasnodar […]

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Russian children’s rights ombudsman wants to end foreign adoption

File Photo of Russian Orphans with Mr. and Mrs. Dmitry Medvedev

(Russia Beyond the Headlines – www.rbth.ru – Anna Nemtsova, special to RBTH – February 19, 2013) Russian children’s rights ombudsman speaks candidly about his mission to abolish foreign adoption and end Russia’s role as an international “donor of orphans.” Russian children’s rights ombudsman Pavel Astakhov, 47, is a man with a controversial mission: to end once and for all the […]

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Adoption Ban: Children Russia’s Top Priority, Says Envoy – INTERVIEW

File Photo of Russian Orphans with Mr. and Mrs. Dmitry Medvedev

WASHINGTON, February 14 (By Maria Young for RIA Novosti) – Russia’s ban of adoptions by US parents was enacted solely with the welfare of Russian children in mind, Moscow’s top envoy to Washington said this week, despite widespread perception among Americans that it was a retaliatory political act. Speaking in an interview with RIA Novosti, Ambassador Sergei Kislyak lamented an […]

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U.S. experts coming to Moscow to consult on kids Americans wanted to adopt

File Photo of Russian Orphans with Mr. and Mrs. Dmitry Medvedev

(Interfax – February 12, 2013) U.S. experts will come to Moscow to consult with Russian officials on the destiny of orphans, who could have been adopted by Americans. “Americans asked for consultations, and a large delegation will visit us and will discuss with our officials how to track those kids, who have already come within the field of vision of […]

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10 Russian Myths About U.S. Adoptions

File Photo of Russian Orphans with Mr. and Mrs. Dmitry Medvedev

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Michael Bohm – February 8, 2013) Michael Bohm is opinion page editor of The Moscow Times. Russia’s ban on U.S. adoptions has been accompanied by a massive propaganda campaign filled with many distortions and fabrications. Below are the 10 largest myths spread by children’s rights ombudsman Pavel Astakhov, United Russia Deputy Vyacheslav Nikonov and other […]

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U.S. to Cooperate With Russia in Child Abuse Probes

File Photo of Vladimir Putin Leaning Towards Barack Hussein Obama With Flags Behind Them

MOSCOW, February 8 (RIA Novosti) – The United States has expressed its readiness to cooperate with Russia’s Investigative Committee (IC) in legal cases involving violence against Russian children adopted by Americans, committee spokesman Vladimir Markin said on Friday. In the course of a working meeting on Wednesday, Investigative Committee officials handed a letter from IC head Alexander Bastrykin to US […]

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NEWSLINK: Russian state TV talk show discusses controversial State Duma bills

Kremlin and St. Basil's

[Russian state TV talk show discusses controversial State Duma bills – BBC Monitoring/Rossiya 1 – January 27, 2013] BBC Monitoring reports on the Rossiya 1 television program “Sunday Night with Vladimir Solovyev” and its January 27, 2013, broadcast covering Duma bills: The 27 January edition of the “Sunday Night with Vladimir Solovyev” talk show on state-owned Rossiya 1 TV featured […]

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Russians Not Lining Up to Adopt Americans

Stylized Russian and U.S. Flags with Number 200, 1807-2007

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Jonathan Earle – January 31, 2013) When the now-infamous ban on U.S. adoptions was first introduced in the State Duma in mid-December, some Russians suggested that a more appropriate response to the United States’ sanctions-imposing Magnitsky Act would have been to push their compatriots to adopt American children. “We shouldn’t ban the adoption of our […]

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Russian Ambassador: Adoption Ban ‘Didn’t Appear From Nowhere’

File Photo of Russian Orphans with Mr. and Mrs. Dmitry Medvedev

WASHINGTON, January 30 (By Maria Young for RIA Novosti) – Russia’s ambassador to the United States agreed Wednesday to convey to Moscow the concerns expressed by a dozen US senators in a closed-door meeting about Russia’s recent ban on adoptions by US citizens, but stopped short of offering renewed hope to American families and Russian children whose adoptions have been […]

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Half of Russians Favor Dima Yakovlev Law, 30% Oppose – Poll

File Photo of Russian Orphans with Mr. and Mrs. Dmitry Medvedev

MOSCOW, January 30 (RIA Novosti) – Fifty percent of respondents in a nationwide poll spoke in favor of the recently introduced law banning child adoptions by Americans, but 31 percent said they opposed the new legislation, the Levada Center pollster said on Wednesday. The poll, conducted between January 18 and 21, also found that 39 percent of respondents have nothing […]

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80% of Russian orphaned children live in Russian adoptive families – lawmaker

File Photo of Russian Orphans with Mr. and Mrs. Dmitry Medvedev

ST. PETERSBURG. Jan 29 (Interfax) – Eighty percent of Russian orphaned children have been adopted in Russia, said Irina Sokolova, vice chairperson of the State Duma Committee for Family, Women’s and Children’s Affairs. “Besides the anti-Magnitsky law, President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on January 28 on the state policy of protecting orphaned and parentless children. There are about 650,000 […]

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TRANSCRIPT: [Medvedev] Interview with Bloomberg TV

File Photo of "World Economic Forum" Display at Davos from Past Session

(Government.ru – January 23, 2013) Question (as translated): Good morning! We have Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev here today. Forty-five minutes from now, he will deliver a keynote speech here in Davos, at the World Economic Forum. Mr Prime Minister, thank you for coming. By the way, you are the first leader who agreed to be interviewed without wearing a […]

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Ombudsman’s Plans for Orphans Slammed

File Photo of Russian Orphans with Mr. and Mrs. Dmitry Medvedev

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Jonathan Earle – January 18, 2013) Experts sharply criticized children’s ombudsman Pavel Astakhov’s proposals Thursday to create an orphan agency and inspect orphanages in Moscow, measures that appeared aimed at addressing concern over orphans’ welfare in Russia after the country renounced U.S. adoptions. “An agency with that name, explicitly for orphans, that’s the end of […]

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To be or not to be: Buried within the adoption scandal is a bigger and more essential dilemma

File Photo of Russian Orphans with Mr. and Mrs. Dmitry Medvedev

(Moscow News – themoscownews.com – Anna Arutunyan – January 14, 2013) Anna Arutunyan is the politics editor of The Moscow News “Children are [expletive] sacred,” one protester was overheard telling another at Sunday’s March against Scoundrels. That was one of the reasons that the march, widely expected to continue a trend of dwindling turnout for the spate of mass anti-government […]

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Putin Declares War on Orphans, NGOs and the U.S.

File Photo of Russian Orphans with Mr. and Mrs. Dmitry Medvedev

(Bloomberg editorial – bloomberg.com – January 2, 2013) On New Year’s Day, a law took effect in Russia banning U.S. families from adopting children there. Not only is this use of orphans to score a political point repugnant, it also reflects a worrying defensive and isolationist trend in President Vladimir Putin’s foreign and domestic policies. The adoption ban was rushed […]

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NEWSLINK: You’re a Mean One, Mr. Putin; Was 2012 the year Russia’s president finally lost it? – Anders Åslund

Vladimir Putin file photo

[Foreign Policy – Anders Åslund – December 28, 2012 – http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/12/28/Putin_orphans_Russia_crackdown] Anders Åslund examines the state of Russian politics, characterizing it as marked by repression, anger and a realization of a need for change but lacking a grasp of effective alternatives other than personal flight: … I have not found the mood in the Russian capital so depressed since the […]

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