Russia plans ban on U.S. adoptions

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Russia lawmakers consider a ban of Russian children adoptions to the U.S. In recent decade, adoptions from Russia came second to ChinaRussian leaders are critical of new U.S. law that penalizes officials tied to lawyer's deathRead a version of this story in Arabic.

(CNN) -- Russian lawmakers could move to ban Americans from adopting children from the country -- which is one of the top sources of international adoptions to the United States.

A bill to block adoption to the United States passed the State Duma, Russia's lower house of parliament, on its first reading last week and it will be considered again Wednesday for a crucial second reading, according to Russia's RIA Novosti news agency.

This could affect hundreds of American families seeking to adopt Russian children. From 1999 to 2011, 45,112 adoptions to the United States came from Russia, second to only China, according to the U.S. State Department statistics. However, the number of adoptions from Russia has waned in recent years after a peak in 2005.

United Russia, the majority party in the parliament backs the adoption ban, political leaders told Russian media.

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The act is named after a Russian lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky who uncovered the largest tax fraud in the country's history in form of rebates claimed by government officials who stole money from the state. After Magnitsky died in a Moscow detention center in 2009, his name became the basis of Washington's list of Russian officials who were involved in the tax fraud and in the deceased lawyer's detention.

Russian leaders have criticized the passage of the Magnitsky Act and wrote new legislation that would impose restrictions that include banning U.S. citizens who've violated Russians' rights, freezing their assets and ending adoptions to the United States.

"It is prohibited to transfer children who are citizens of the Russian Federation, for adoption to the citizens of the United States, and to conduct in the Russian Federation activities of organizations for the purpose of selection and placement of children who are citizens of the Russian Federation, for adoption to the citizens of the United States of America wishing to adopt these children," the bill states.

If the bill passes, it would nullify a pre-existing agreement between the United States and Russia, in which the countries agreed to additional safeguards to protect children and parties involved in intercountry adoptions.

Backers of the bill say American adoptive parents have been abusive, citing 19 deaths of Russian children by their foster parents since the 1990s, according to local media.

In 2010, an American woman sent her adopted son back to Russia, claiming that the then-7-year-old boy had violent episodes that made the family fear for its safety.

Fareed Zakaria contributed to this report.

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Russia Votes to Ban All Adoptions by Americans

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The vote was 400 to 4, with 2 abstentions, and it showed a rare split opening at the highest levels of the Russian government. Several senior officials had spoken out against the adoption ban, including some, like the foreign minister, Sergey V. Lavrov, who are known as hawks in dealing with the United States.

Ultimately, the decision rests with President Vladimir V. Putin who has said that Russia must respond to the American law but has not yet expressed his view on banning adoptions outright. Mr. Putin not only must sign the bill into law but will have huge sway over the final version of it that emerges from Parliament.

Since returning to the presidency in May, Mr. Putin has used populist, even reactionary, legislation out of the State Duma, the lower house of Parliament, to drive much his agenda and to suppress political dissent. And the proposed adoption ban now presents a huge test.

If Mr. Putin allows it to go forward, it would be the most forceful anti-American action of his new term, undoing a bilateral agreement on international adoptions ratified just this year and crushing the aspirations of thousands of Americans hoping to become parents of Russian orphans. More than 45,000 such adoptions have taken place since 1999.

But if Mr. Putin maneuvers to block the measure, it would put him at odds with United Russia, the party that nominated him for president and has dutifully carried out his legislative juggernaut.

The Kremlin on Wednesday sought to portray the Duma’s efforts as reflecting the anger of rank-and-file lawmakers. “This harsh and emotional reaction of Russian members of Parliament is well understandable,” Mr. Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, told Russian news agencies. “Certainly the executive branch’s policy is more restrained but taking into account the well-known anti-Russian manifestations, Russian President Vladimir Putin understands the Russian lawmakers’ position.”

The State Department did not immediately respond to the action by the Duma, but a spokeswoman, Victoria Nuland, noted the prior cooperation on the issue of international adoptions. “We have worked hard with Russia to address past problems through our new adoption agreement, which the Duma has approved,” Ms. Nuland said. “Hundreds of Russian orphans have found safe, loving homes in the United States, as have children from around the world.”

Russian officials have also expressed anger that other Western countries, including Canada and Britain are considering their own version of the Magnitsky legislation. The Duma’s bill would apply the adoption ban to any other country that enacts such a law.

Lawmakers showed no hesitation in approving the adoption ban on Wednesday, despite the words of caution from senior officials, not just Mr. Lavrov, but the education minister, Dmitri Livanov, and even the speaker of the Federation Council, the upper chamber of Parliament, which must also approve the ban before it becomes law.

The speaker, Valentina Matviyenko, who is the highest-ranking woman in the Russian government, said on Wednesday that such a major step requires careful consideration. “One should not be guided by emotions,” Ms. Matviyenko said, according to the Interfax news agency. “The issue is very important and requires careful study. All the pros and cons should be weighed and the decision made in a cool state of mind without emotions.”

She added, however, that the majority of Federation Council members are in favor of responding forcefully to the new American law.

That law, which Mr. Obama signed on Friday, is named for Sergei L. Magnitsky, a Russian lawyer who died in prison in 2009 after trying to expose a huge government tax fraud and allegedly after being denied proper medical care.

The law requires the administration to develop a list of Russian citizens accused of abusing human rights, including officials involved in Mr. Magnitsky’s case, and bar them from traveling to the United States and from owning real estate or other financial assets there.

Andrew Roth contributed reporting.

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Russian Officials Call for Ban on Adoptions by U.S. Citizens

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The new law, signed by President Obama last week, bars those accused of rights abuses from traveling to the United States and from owning real estate or other financial assets in the country. It infuriated Russian officials, including President Vladimir V. Putin, who pledged to retaliate.

Mr. Putin voiced support last week for a plan to impose comparable sanctions on United States judges and others accused of having violated the rights of Russian children adopted by Americans. On Friday, the lower house of Parliament approved the first version of such a bill.

But some lawmakers are now pushing an amendment that would ban all adoptions of Russian children by American citizens. A vote could come as soon as Wednesday.

Even some senior Russian officials have said the measure is too drastic, including the foreign minister, Sergey V. Lavrov, and the education minister, Dmitry Livanov.

The conflicting views highlight the challenge the Kremlin is facing in formulating a response to the American law.

“We cannot ban American bureaucrats from traveling to Russia because in general they don’t come here,” said Dmitry Gudkov, a member of Parliament who voted against the amendment in committee. “They don’t have bank accounts here; they don’t buy property.”

Critics of the amendment said it would punish Russian orphans. Some news accounts described it as denying needy children a chance at the “American dream.” One political cartoon showed a Russian official holding a child in a chokehold.

Americans have adopted more than 45,000 Russian children since 1999, according to State Department statistics, with a high of 5,862 in 2004. The numbers have dwindled in recent years, though, to 962 in 2011. Even so, Russia is the third most popular country for adoptions by Americans, behind China and Ethiopia.

The American law was named for Sergei L. Magnitsky, a Russian lawyer who died in prison in 2009 after trying to expose government tax fraud. He was said to have been denied proper medical care.

Russian lawmakers named their bill after Dmitri Yakovlev, a toddler who died in Virginia in July 2008 after his adoptive father left him in a parked car for nine hours.

The father, Miles Harrison, was acquitted of manslaughter by Judge R. Terrence Ney of Fairfax County Circuit Court, who ruled that while Mr. Harrison was negligent, he had not shown “callous disregard for human life.”

Judge Ney said in a telephone interview that he would regret not having the chance to visit Russia, but he did not seem overly bothered by the possibility of being barred from the country.

“When you are reading the travel section,” Judge Ney said he told his wife the other day, “you can jump over it when you get to Russia.” He said that they had long talked of visiting St. Petersburg and Moscow, to see St. Basil’s Cathedral and the land of Dostoyevsky. “We’re not going to make that trip,” he said. “It’s just that simple.”

As for the death of Dmitri Yakovlev, Judge Ney said the child’s nationality was not a factor. “The case would have been decided in the same way,” he said. “It was just this terrible, terrible tragedy.”

Sporadic cases of abuse, even deaths, of adopted Russian children in the United States have inflamed Russian public opinion. Tensions soared in 2010 after a 7-year-old boy was sent alone on a flight back to Russia by his adoptive mother from Tennessee.

Russia threatened to ban adoptions after that case, but the two countries reached an agreement on heightened oversight that allowed them to continue.

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