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Putin Says He Will Sign Law Barring U.S. Adoptions
Putin Says He Will Sign Law Barring U.S. Adoptions
(about 5 hours later)
MOSCOW President Vladimir V. Putin said on Thursday that he would sign into law a bill banning the adoption of Russian children by American citizens, retaliating against an American law that punishes Russians accused of violating human rights and dealing a potentially grave setback to bilateral relations.
MOSCOW — President Vladimir V. Putin said Thursday that he would sign into law a bill banning adoptions of Russian children by American citizens, retaliating against a new American law that seeks to punish human rights abuses in Russia and dealing a serious blow to bilateral relations after a year in which ties have become increasingly strained.
Mr. Putin announced his decision at a meeting with senior government officials, including cabinet members and legislative leaders. The adoption ban, included in a broader law aimed at retaliating against the United States, was approved unanimously by the Federation Council, the upper chamber of Parliament, on Wednesday.
Most immediately, though, the ban stands to upend the plans of dozens of American families in the final stages of adopting children in Russia, adding wrenching emotional tumult to a process that can cost $50,000 or more, requires repeated trips overseas, and even under the best of circumstances typically entails lengthy and maddening bureaucracy.
Mr. Putin also said he would sign a decree calling for improvements in Russia’s deeply troubled child welfare system that the Federation Council also adopted Wednesday. “I intend to sign the law,” Mr. Putin said, “as well as a presidential decree changing the procedure of helping orphaned children, children left without parental care, and especially children who are in a disadvantageous situation due to their health problems.”
Although his decision has been eagerly awaited, Mr. Putin seemed rather blasé at a meeting with senior government officials on Thursday that included cabinet members, legislative leaders and governors. When Vladimir S. Gruzdev, the governor of the Tula region, said, “I would like to ask, what is the fate of the law?” Mr. Putin replied curtly, “Which law?”
United States officials have strongly criticized the measure and have urged the Russian government not to enmesh orphaned children in politics.
The adoption ban, included in a broader law aimed at retaliating against the United States, was approved unanimously by the Federation Council, the upper chamber of Parliament, on Wednesday. Mr. Putin went on to say that he would sign the bill and a decree also adopted on Wednesday, calling for improvements in Russia’s child welfare system.
“It is misguided to link the fate of children to unrelated political considerations,” a State Department spokesman, Patrick Ventrell, said on Wednesday before Mr. Putin announced his decision.
“I intend to sign the law,” Mr. Putin said, “as well as a presidential decree changing the procedure of helping orphaned children, children left without parental care, and especially children who are in a disadvantageous situation due to their health problems.”
Internally, however, Obama administration officials have been debating how strongly to respond to the adoption ban, and are trying to assess the potential implications for other aspects of the relationship with Russia. The United States, for example, now relies heavily on overland routes through Russia to ship supplies to military units in Afghanistan, and has enlisted Russia’s help in containing Iran’s nuclear program. The former cold war rivals also have sharp disagreements, notably over the civil war in Syria.
Mr. Putin also brushed aside criticism that the law would deny some Russian orphans the chance for a much better life in the United States. In 2011, about 1,000 Russian children were adopted to America, more than to any other foreign country, but still a tiny number given that nearly 120,000 children in Russia are eligible for adoption.
Until Thursday, these larger considerations, along with the possibility that Mr. Putin might veto the adoption bill, seemed to forestall a more forceful response from Washington.
“There are probably many places in the world where living standards are better than ours,” Mr. Putin said. “So what? Shall we send all children there, or move there ourselves?”
The ban is set to take effect on Tuesday, and some senior officials in Moscow said they expected it to have the immediate effect of blocking the departure of 46 children whose adoptions by American parents were nearly completed. Adoption agency officials in the United States who work regularly with Russian orphanages said they expected the number of families immediately affected by the ban to be far larger, about 200 to 250 who have already identified a child that they planned to adopt.
United States officials have strongly criticized the measure and have urged the Russian government not to enmesh orphaned children in politics. “We have repeatedly made clear, both in private and in public, our deep concerns about the bill passed by the Russian Parliament,” a State Department spokesman, Patrick Ventrell, said on Thursday. “Since 1992 American families have welcomed more than 60,000 Russian children into their homes, and it is misguided to link the fate of children to unrelated political considerations.”
Since Mr. Putin returned to the presidency in May, Russian officials have used a juggernaut of legislation and executive decisions to curtail the United States’ influence and involvement in Russia, undoing major partnerships that began after the fall of the Soviet Union.
Internally, however, Obama administration officials have been engaged in a debate over how strongly to respond to the adoption ban, and how to assess the potential implications for other aspects of the country’s relationship with Russia.
The adoption ban, however, is the first step to take direct aim at the American public and would effectively undo a bilateral agreement on international adoptions that was ratified this year and took effect Nov. 1. That agreement called for heightened oversight in response to several high-profile cases of abuse and deaths of adopted Russian children in the United States.
The United States, for instance, now relies heavily on overland routes through Russia to ship supplies to military units in Afghanistan, and has enlisted Russia’s help in containing Iran’s nuclear program. The former cold war rivals also have sharp disagreements, notably over the civil war in Syria.
About 1,000 Russian children were adopted in 2011 by parents from the United States, which leads in adoptions here, and more than 45,000 such children have been adopted by American parents since 1999.
And with the White House and Congress heavily focused on the fiscal debate in Washington, there seems to be little room for developing a more forceful response on the adoption issue.
Pavel A. Astakhov, Russia’s child rights commissioner and a major proponent of the ban, said the 46 pending adoptions would be blocked regardless of previous agreements, and he expressed no regrets over the likely emotional turmoil for the families involved.
The news led to shock and despair among the hundreds of American families waiting to adopt a Russian child.
“The children who have been chosen by foreign American parents — we know of 46 children who were seen, whose paperwork was processed, who came in the sights of American agencies,” Mr. Astakhov said in his statement. “They will not be able to go to America, to those who wanted to see them as their adopted children. There is no need to go out and make a tragedy out of it.”
“I’m a little numb,” said Maria Drewinsky, a massage therapist from Sea Cliff, N.Y., who was in the final stages of adopting Alyosha, 5, has flown twice to visit him and speaks to him weekly on the telephone. “We have clothes and a bedroom all set up for him, and we talk about him all the time as our son.”
Mr. Astakhov, who is a longtime advocate of restricting international adoptions, said he would seek to extend the ban to all countries. “I think any foreign adoption is bad for the country,” he said.
The bill that includes the adoption ban was drafted in response to the Magnitsky Act, a law signed by President Obama earlier this month that will bar Russian citizens accused of violating human rights from traveling to the United States and from owning real estate or other assets there.
That remark prompted Sergei Parkhomenko, a well-known journalist and commenter, to reply tartly, “Adoption when needed is for the good of the child, not the good of the country.” And he accused Mr. Astakhov of neglecting his duty to serve children in favor of serving Mr. Putin, who appointed him.
The Obama administration had opposed the legislation, fearing diplomatic retaliation, but members of Congress were eager to press Russia over human rights abuses and tied the bill to legislation that granted Russia new status as a full trading partner — a measure that was required by Russia’s entrance into the World Trade Organization earlier this year.
Some Russian lawmakers said they believed that the bilateral agreement on adoptions with the United States would be void as of Tuesday, even though Mr. Putin, at his annual news conference last week, said changes to the agreement required one year’s notice by either side.
Mr. Putin held his cards even as the lower house of Parliament, the State Duma, approved the adoption bill by a large margin, followed by the Federation Council, which backed it unanimously. Like Mr. Obama, he can now say he is simply signing a bill with overwhelming support from the legislative branch — though Mr. Putin holds far more sway over Russian lawmakers than Mr. Obama does over Congress.
The ban has opened a rare split at the highest levels of the Russian government, with several senior officials speaking out against it. And it has provoked a huge public outcry and debate, with critics saying it would most hurt Russian orphans, many of whom are already suffering in the child welfare system.
The adoption ban set off impassioned ideological debate here in Russia, and opened a rare split at the highest levels of government. Critics said the ban would most hurt orphans already suffering in Russia’s deeply troubled child welfare system. Supporters said Russians should care for their own and pointed at sporadic abuse cases involving adopted Russian children in the United States that have generated publicity and outrage here.
In their debate on Wednesday, Russian lawmakers said they felt compelled to retaliate for a law signed by President Obama this month that will bar Russian citizens accused of violating human rights from traveling to the United States and from owning real estate or other assets there.
The response has been equally emotional in the United States, where three Russian adoptees, including Tatyana McFadden, 23, a medal-winning Paralympics athlete who uses a wheelchair, delivered a petition against the ban to the Russian Embassy in Washington. Meanwhile, supporters of the ban in the United States said there were more than enough American children in need of adoption.
The lawmakers also said that Russia, which has more than 650,000 children living without parental supervision, should take care of them on its own. At the same time, the lawmakers acknowledged the flaws in the system and on Wednesday adopted a resolution calling for measures to make adoption by Russian citizens easier.
“The closure of U.S. adoptions from Russia would be tragic and not in the best interest of the many thousands of children living in orphanages or other institutions,” said Leslie Case, a spokeswoman for Spence-Chapin Adoption Services in New York. “Having children spend more time in institutions is detrimental to their development.”
“The attitude toward the protection of parenthood and childhood has to change drastically on every level,” the resolution said, citing excessive bureaucracy, lack of financing for children’s medical care and insufficient efforts to promote adoption.
The ban is set to take effect on Tuesday, and some senior officials in Moscow said they expected it to have the immediate effect of blocking the departure of 46 children whose adoptions by American parents were nearly completed.
“We need to set a plan for the future,” said Valery V. Ryazansky, a senator from the Kursk region. Then, reiterating a slogan adopted by many lawmakers in recent days, he declared, “Russia without orphans!” Gennady I. Makin, a senator from Voronezh, gave it a slight twist: “Russia without orphanages.”
Adoption agency officials in the United States who work regularly with Russian orphanages said they expected the number of families immediately affected by the ban to be far larger, about 200 to 250 who have already identified a child whom they plan to adopt.
Child welfare advocates have mocked this sort of rhetoric, noting that more than 80,000 children were identified as in need of supervision in 2011 and that the country had been unable to find homes for the vast majority of 120,000 children eligible for adoption.
There were slightly more than 10,000 adoptions in Russia in 2011, about 3,400 of which were by foreigners.
In addition to banning adoptions by Americans, the bill would impose sanctions on American judges and others accused of violating the rights of adopted Russian children in the United States.
A number of cases involving the abuse or even deaths of adopted Russian children in the United States in recent years have generated publicity and outrage in Russia, including a case in which a 7-year-old boy was sent on a flight back to Russia alone by his adoptive mother in Tennessee.
The focus on adopted children also showed the Russian government as largely vexed in trying to find a reciprocal response to the new American human rights law. Russians, especially wealthy ones, travel frequently to the United States and own property there, but Americans travel in relatively small numbers to Russia and typically do not maintain financial assets here.
