Washington Wants to Take the Children

Washington Wants to Take the Children

Interfax - 9 January 2013

by Интерфакс
translated by Phil

Click here for the original article in Russian

Through the State Department the U.S. said it would like to complete the adoption of Russian children who have found adoptive families.  These children were counted as not more than 52 according to Pavel Astakhov [the Russian Presidential Commissioner for Children's Rights] but were estimated by the Americans as numbering in the hundreds.

Photo: ITAR-TASS

Moscow, January 9.  Washington is trying to negotiate with Moscow about those families that failed to complete the adoption process of their Russian children before the new law entered into affect but still are trying to do it.  "We are continuing to negotiate with the Russian government", said Secretary of State spokeswoman Victoria Nuland.  "Of course we would like the adoption process in these cases to move forward but the Russian government has informed us that they plan to officially suspend our agreement."  A representative of the Department has said that these families number between 500 to 1,000.  "This is extremely tragic, as you can imagine, not only for the families but also for the children," said Nuland.

The Russian Dima Yakovlev Act (the Anti-Magnitsky Act), signed by the president the 28th of December, was adopted in response to the U.S.'s Magnitsky Bill which imposes sanctions against certain Russian officials who are largely seen as responsible in the 2009 death of Moscow lawyer Sergei Magnitsky.  The Anti-Magnitsky Law creates a ban on the adoption of Russian children by American citizens and forbids American led or funded nonprofit organizations from operating in Russia.  So, as of January 1 this year Russia has withdrawn from the agreement with the U.S. on international adoption which was signed in Washington on July 13 of last year.

However, the Russian President's Press Secretary, Dimitry Peskov, said that the ban on Russian adoptions by Americans doesn't affect those adoptions that have already been decided by the courts.  "Of course the law will not apply to cases where there already is a court decision on the adoption," Peskov said in an interview with the Russian News Service on December 28th commenting on the president signing the bill into law.  However, he stressed that in cases "where a judgement has not been made then the [new] law shall take precedence."

At the same time the Press Secretary added that the president "is waiting for the direction of the Supreme Court which will then explain to all the courts the new law's procedures."

Expressing his own opinion, the Presidential Commissioner for Children's Rights Pavel Astakhov, suggested that the governor of each Russian region should personally oversee the adoption in Russia of those children that had already been prepared for adoption to American families.  "There are 52 of these children and I think that they should be adopted in Russia under the governor's responsibility," said Astakhov.

The U.S. Senate Has Denounced the Russian Adoption Ban

The U.S. Senate has Denounced the Russian Adoption Ban

Interfax - 3 January 2013

by Интерфакс
translated by Phil

Click here for the original article in Russian

The U.S. Senate approved a resolution that denounces the ban on adoptions of Russian orphans by Americans.  They called on the Russian government to reconsider.

Moscow, January 3.  The U.S. Senate unanimously approved a resolution condemning the ban on the adoption of Russian orphans by Americans which came into affect on January 1, said the BBC.

The text of the resolution states that the Russian law, which was passed in response to the American's Magnitsky Bill, first and foremost hurts the orphaned children which the Senators say are being used as "pawns in a political game".

The U.S. senators called on the Russian government to reconsider the ban "on humanitarian grounds".  In their opinion cases of adoption should be dealt with using the system prior to the new law.

The resolution cited data from UNICEF saying that 740,000 children live without parental care in Russia.  While at the same time according to the Russian Ministry of Education and public information there are only 110,000 such children.

Even one of the authors of the resolution, Senator Roy Blunt of Missouri, is the adopted father to a child from Russia.

Remember that the Russian Bill, which was signed into law on December 28, was adopted in response to the U.S.'s Magnitsky Bill.  This act imposes sanctions against certain Russian officials who are seen as responsible for the death in 2009 in the pretrial detention of Moscow lawyer Sergei Magnitsky.

The Anti-Magnitsky Law (or the Dima Yakovlev Bill) introduced the ban on adoptions of Russian children by Americans as well as the ban on nongovernmental organizations either led by Americans or with American funding working in Russia.

Communists Ask That the U.S. Not Be Allowed at the 2014 Olympics in Sochi

Communists Ask That the U.S. Not Be Allowed at the 2014 Olympics in Sochi

Izvestia - 6 January 2013

by Дмитрий Рункевич and Алена Сивкова

translated by Phil
Click here for the original article in Russian

The political party Communists of Russia invites the president to not stop at only the proposed Dima Yakovlev law [which would ban U.S. adoption of Russian children].

image: sochi2014.com

The newly created party Communists of Russia (which calls itself an alternative to the Russian Communist Party) asks the country's leadership to continue the reaction to the U.S.'s adopted Magnitsky Bill [which is meant to punish corrupt Russian officials].  The Communists wrote a letter to President Vladimir Putin (made available to Izvestia) alleging that the Dima Yakolev law is not enough of a response to the Americans and that it is necessary further to deny the American Olympic team participation in the 2014 games in Sochi.

"We offer as equivalent measures to ensure justice and the U.S. establishment's responsibility to the world public to ban their athletes entrance to Russia to participate in the 2014 Olympic games in Sochi.  The athletes represent the interests of the imperialist monster - The United States," says the letter.

"It seems that such a move against the U.S. would have a greater political affect than the Anti-Magnitsky, Dima Lakovlev Law.  The Olympics is a large international event and such a move would attract a wide political audience", says the head of the Central Committee Maxim Suraikin.  "Moreover I believe that this position will support the many countries that aren't happy with the U.S.'s actions in recent years.

One of the authors of the letter, the secretary of the Krasnodar branch of Communists of Russia, Mikhail Abramyan said that the letter was sent not only to the president but also to the Russian Duma.  "We believe that this will be the best solution and answer to the aggressive U.S. policy towards Russia", he said.  "Additionally, we plan to hold a number of protests in Sochi to support our proposal."

During the first and last modern Olympics in modern Russia, in 1980, the U.S. and many European countries teams ignored the games in response to Soviet aggression in Afghanistan.  Back then the games were essentially a competition only between socialist countries.  However now it is a proposal from communists that has caused discontent among Duma members and athletes.

Duma member and member of the United Russia party Nikolai Valuyev called the letter pure PR.  "This is a simple attempt to fill a cheap political capital.  The Olympic games and the Magnitsky list have nothing to do with one another and there is no need to try and mix them." 

"With these kinds of ideas we are going back to the 20th century.  We already passed a law that forbids Americans from taking our children", said world figure skating champion Maria Butirskaya.  "But it would be a new low to not let the Americans into the Olympics.  It's absurd."

The Communists of Russia party are positioning themselves as supporters of far left political views.  Since they formed they have often tried to attract attention with their actions.  Previously they accused the Minister of Culture of anti-communist harassment, inciting civil unrest and referred him to the Prosecutor General.