RUSSIALINK: “Russia to Expand Anti-Magnitsky Sanctions Worldwide, Keep U.S. Adoption Ban” – Moscow Times
Russia is seeking to expand wide-ranging sanctions it adopted in response to a U.S. human rights abuse law […]
» Read moreRussia is seeking to expand wide-ranging sanctions it adopted in response to a U.S. human rights abuse law […]
» Read more(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 […]
» Read more(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 […]
» Read more(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 […]
» Read more(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 […]
» Read moreAmbassador 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.
» Read moreMOSCOW. 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 […]
» Read more(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 […]
» Read moreMOSCOW. 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 […]
» Read more(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 […]
» Read moreMOSCOW. 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 […]
» Read more(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 […]
» Read more(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 […]
» Read more(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 […]
» Read more(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 […]
» Read more(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 […]
» Read more(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 […]
» Read more(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 […]
» Read more(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] […]
» Read more(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 […]
» Read more(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 […]
» Read more(RIA Novosti – WASHINGTON, April 17, 2013) Russia and the United States have agreed to establish regular dialogue on the protection of rights of Russian children adopted by US families, a Russian diplomat said on Wednesday after talks with US officials in Washington. “There is a mutual understanding that the dialogue must be improved and expanded,” said Konstantin Dolgov, […]
» Read more(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – April 17, 2013) The State Duma was scheduled on Wednesday to discuss a bill to lift the ban on U.S. parents adopting Russian children, even as Russian investigators accused another U.S. couple of failing to protect their child. The bill’s authors, Just Russia Deputies Dmitry Gudkov, Ilya Ponomaryov and Valery Zubov, said the ban needed […]
» Read moreWASHINGTON, March 27 (RIA Novosti) Max Shatto, the 3-year-old Russian adoptee who died on Jan. 21 in Texas, had more than 30 bruises on his body in different stages of healing at the time of his death, according to an autopsy report obtained by the Odessa American (OA) newspaper. The report acquired through a Freedom of Information request to […]
» Read more(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 […]
» Read more(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 […]
» Read moreMOSCOW, 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 […]
» Read moreMOSCOW, March 19 (RIA Novosti) Russia’s child rights ombudsman and Foreign Ministry criticized on Tuesday the decision by Texas prosecutors not to charge the adoptive parents of a Russian toddler who died suddenly in January. “The Texas prosecutors’ position in the case of Maxim Kuzmin is upsetting, because they refused to scrutinize the circumstances of his death,” ombudsman Pavel […]
» Read more(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 […]
» Read more(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 […]
» Read moreMOSCOW, March 2 (RIA Novosti) Russian officials reacted with a mixture of anger and suspicion on Saturday after officials in the United States said the death of a 3-year-old Russian child in Texas was an accident. Max Shatto, also known as Maxim Kuzmin, died on January 21 in Ector County, Texas, sparking anger in Russia, where his death was […]
» Read moreBERLIN, 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 […]
» Read more(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 […]
» Read more(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Jonathan Earle – February 26, 2013) Investigators have opened a murder case into the death of a 9-year-old Russian boy in the care of U.S. parents, the Investigative Committee said in an online statement late Monday. Anton Fomin died of smoke inhalation in a fire at his house in the state of Nebraska in May […]
» Read more(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Jonathan Earle – February 25, 2013) U.S. Ambassador Michael McFaul has condemned “sensational exploitations” of the recent death of a Russian toddler in the United States and said he is “troubled” by portrayals of the U.S. legal system, government and the American people in the Russian press. “It is time for sensational exploitations of human […]
» Read moreMOSCOW. 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. […]
» Read more(RIA Novosti – Moscow, February 21, 2013) Up to 300 adopted children die in Russia every year but practically no-one has faced criminal prosecution over these deaths, head of the State Duma Committee on Affairs of Family, Women and Children Yelena Mizulina (representing A Just Russia party) said on Thursday (21 February). “According to the figures available to the committee, […]
» Read moreNOVO-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 […]
» Read moreWASHINGTON, February 19 (By Maria Young for RIA Novosti) The January death of a young boy adopted from Russia last year by American parents was called “suspicious” on Tuesday by Texas authorities investigating the case, but they stopped short of confirming the graphic evidence of abuse some Russian officials have claimed and said the parents have not been charged with […]
» Read more(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 […]
» Read more(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 […]
» Read more(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 […]
» Read more(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Natalya Krainova – February 19, 2013) The U.S. State Department will assist in Russia’s probe into the January death of a 3-year-old Russian boy adopted by an American woman, a spokesman told RIA-Novosti on Wednesday. Children’s ombudsman Pavel Astakhov said the boy, Maxim Kuzmin, was killed by his adoptive mother in Texas on Jan. 21 […]
» Read more(RFE/RL – rferl.org – Robert Coalson – February 19, 2013) It was like putting a match to a powder keg. Reports of the death in Texas of a Russian adoptee are producing an outpouring of outrage from Russian political elites aimed directly at the United States. “Why should we send our children to certain death,” Deputy Chairwoman of the Federation […]
» Read moreWASHINGTON, 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 […]
» Read more(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 […]
» Read more(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 […]
» Read moreMOSCOW, 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 […]
» Read more[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 […]
» Read more(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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