Russian lawmakers on Monday introduced a bill aimed at banning citizens of “enemy” countries from adopting children in Russia, at a time when tensions between Westerners and Moscow are at their height.
The proposal, which appeared on the website of the Duma, the lower house of parliament, aims to expand the scope of a 2012 law that prohibits Americans from adopting Russian children and make it applicable to citizens of countries perpetrators of actions ” unfriendly” towards Russia.
The Russian government has responded to the sanctions taken to punish its military offensive in Ukraine by expanding this list of “hostile countries”. It now includes the United States, Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, Norway, Taiwan, and all members of the European Union.
Three necessary readings
To enter into force, the bill must be approved after three readings in the lower house of Parliament, then by the Federation Council, the upper house, and be signed into law by President Vladimir Putin, these last two stages are not usually just be a formality. .
In 2012, Moscow banned the adoption of Russian children by Americans in response to Washington sanctions against top officials involved in the 2009 death in custody in Russia of lawyer Sergei Magnitsky.
This law has reduced the number of adoptions. According to the state news agency TASS, 240 Russian children were adopted by foreigners in 2019, up from 2,604 in 2012.
Source: BFM TV
