[h=3]By GREGORY L. WHITE[/h]MOSCOW—President Vladimir Putin Friday signed into a law a controversial ban on adoptions of Russian children by U.S. citizens, ordering his government to take a range of steps to make it easier for Russians to adopt orphans.
The proposal, which has draw fierce criticism from Russian liberals and even some top government officials as playing politics with the lives of children, will take effect Jan. 1, officials said. It leaves about 50 children who were in the final phases of adoption in legal limbo.
Russian President Vladimir Putin says he intends to sign into law a bill that would ban Americans from adopting Russian children. WSJ's Mike Esterl discusses the ramifications such a law would have on U.S. families seeking adoption, and how it could further harm U.S.-Russia relations.
Initially, a Kremlin spokesman said adoptions would stop from Jan. 1, but later he told a Russian radio station that in six cases where court decisions had already been issued the adoption process continue, even if the U.S. parents haven't yet picked up the children. Other Russian officials have said orphans originally destined for families in the U.S. would be redirected to new adoptive parents inside Russia.
The adoption ban was included in a package of measures the Kremlin pushed through parliament to retaliate for a new U.S. law aimed at punishing alleged Russian human-rights violators. That law was named for Sergei Magnitsky, a lawyer who died in prison after exposing what he said was a $230 million fraud perpetrated by senior Russian police officials. Russian officials insist his death was an accident and a Moscow court Friday dismissed the charges against the last of the prison officials who had been implicated in the case.
"Not a single official responsible for Sergei Magnitsky's false arrest, torture and death or the crimes he had uncovered has been prosecuted by the Russian authorities," his former client, hedge fund Hermitage Capital, said in a statement. "There is no doubt that people responsible for Magnitsky's death are being protected by the president of Russia." Kremlin officials have repeatedly denied any coverup.
Zuma PressThe Russian ban, if signed by President Vladimir Putin, would go into effect Jan. 1.
The Magnitsky Act has soured relations between Washington and Moscow, which views it as a hypocritical attempt by the U.S. to interfere in Russia's internal affairs. The law Mr. Putin signed Friday includes similar visa and financial sanctions on U.S. officials alleged to be involved in human-rights violations, as well as tough new limits on U.S.-funded civic groups operating in Russia.
U.S. officials have denounced the measure but both sides seem to want to limit the damage the tit-for-tat spat does to relations.
Russia is the No. 3 source of international adoptions for the U.S., after China and Ethiopia, according to State Dept. data. About 70,000 Russian children have been adopted in the U.S. in the last two decades, though the flow has fallen to just under 1,000 annually in recent years. Russian officials have highlighted 19 cases over the last 20 years where adopted children died from violence or neglect, charging that U.S. courts are too lenient on their parents. But Russian data show that the abuse rate for orphans in adopted families at home is substantially higher.
Friday, Russia's Foreign Ministry issued a statement saying that the 19 deaths "are just the tip of the iceberg" since not all cases are reported. "On the whole, the situation with adoption in the U.S.A. isn't one of the best," the Ministry said, noting that many international adoptions there end unsuccessfully. It said that in Spain and Italy, also substantial adopters of Russian children, reported no abuse of Russian adoptees.
The proposal, which has draw fierce criticism from Russian liberals and even some top government officials as playing politics with the lives of children, will take effect Jan. 1, officials said. It leaves about 50 children who were in the final phases of adoption in legal limbo.
Russian President Vladimir Putin says he intends to sign into law a bill that would ban Americans from adopting Russian children. WSJ's Mike Esterl discusses the ramifications such a law would have on U.S. families seeking adoption, and how it could further harm U.S.-Russia relations.
Initially, a Kremlin spokesman said adoptions would stop from Jan. 1, but later he told a Russian radio station that in six cases where court decisions had already been issued the adoption process continue, even if the U.S. parents haven't yet picked up the children. Other Russian officials have said orphans originally destined for families in the U.S. would be redirected to new adoptive parents inside Russia.
The adoption ban was included in a package of measures the Kremlin pushed through parliament to retaliate for a new U.S. law aimed at punishing alleged Russian human-rights violators. That law was named for Sergei Magnitsky, a lawyer who died in prison after exposing what he said was a $230 million fraud perpetrated by senior Russian police officials. Russian officials insist his death was an accident and a Moscow court Friday dismissed the charges against the last of the prison officials who had been implicated in the case.
"Not a single official responsible for Sergei Magnitsky's false arrest, torture and death or the crimes he had uncovered has been prosecuted by the Russian authorities," his former client, hedge fund Hermitage Capital, said in a statement. "There is no doubt that people responsible for Magnitsky's death are being protected by the president of Russia." Kremlin officials have repeatedly denied any coverup.
Zuma PressThe Russian ban, if signed by President Vladimir Putin, would go into effect Jan. 1.
The Magnitsky Act has soured relations between Washington and Moscow, which views it as a hypocritical attempt by the U.S. to interfere in Russia's internal affairs. The law Mr. Putin signed Friday includes similar visa and financial sanctions on U.S. officials alleged to be involved in human-rights violations, as well as tough new limits on U.S.-funded civic groups operating in Russia.
U.S. officials have denounced the measure but both sides seem to want to limit the damage the tit-for-tat spat does to relations.
Russia is the No. 3 source of international adoptions for the U.S., after China and Ethiopia, according to State Dept. data. About 70,000 Russian children have been adopted in the U.S. in the last two decades, though the flow has fallen to just under 1,000 annually in recent years. Russian officials have highlighted 19 cases over the last 20 years where adopted children died from violence or neglect, charging that U.S. courts are too lenient on their parents. But Russian data show that the abuse rate for orphans in adopted families at home is substantially higher.
Friday, Russia's Foreign Ministry issued a statement saying that the 19 deaths "are just the tip of the iceberg" since not all cases are reported. "On the whole, the situation with adoption in the U.S.A. isn't one of the best," the Ministry said, noting that many international adoptions there end unsuccessfully. It said that in Spain and Italy, also substantial adopters of Russian children, reported no abuse of Russian adoptees.