Azernews.Az

By Aynur Jafarova

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday he plans to sign into law a controversial bill banning US nationals from adopting Russian children, RIA Novosti news agency reported.

"I already received this draft law...from the Federation Council [upper house of parliament]. I do not see any reason why I should not sign it, although I have to consider the final version and think everything over," Putin said at a meeting of the State Council, a presidential advisory body.

The president said he also intends to sign a decree to provide support to orphans and ailing children in Russia.

Russian Children's Rights Ombudsman Pavel Astakhov sent a report to President Putin on Thursday citing justifications for the bill that would ban US adoptions of Russian children.

"The right of a state to outlaw foreign adoptions is supported by the majority of international acts in this area," Astakhov wrote on Twitter.

The adoption ban, known as the Dima Yakovlev bill, has been approved by Russia's lower and upper houses of parliament, and arrived at the president's desk on Thursday.

The bill was named after 21-month-old Russian child Dima Yakovlev, who died of heatstroke in July 2008 when his adoptive US father, Miles Harrison, left him unattended in a car under broiling sun for nine hours.

Russian officials have repeatedly expressed concern about the safety of Russian children adopted by US parents, and they have cited 19 cases in which Russian children have died at the hands of their adoptive American parents.

Critics of the bill say an overwhelming amount of American/Russian adoptions are successful. Several senior Russian officials, including Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, reportedly spoke out against the adoption of the draft law.

Responding to the proposed adoption ban being considered by Russia, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) asked the government there to be guided solely by the best interests of children in determining its policies, the UN Press Center reported on Wednesday.

"We ask that the government of Russia, in its design and development of all efforts to protect children, let the best interests of children - and only their best interests - determine its actions," the UN agency's Executive Director, Anthony Lake, said in a statement.

While welcoming the call for improving Russia's child welfare system, UNICEF urged that the current plight of the many Russian children in institutions receive close attention.

"We encourage the government to establish a robust national social protection plan to help strengthen Russian families," Lake said. "Alternatives to the institutionalization of children are essential, including permanent foster care, domestic adoption and inter-country adoption."

"All children deserve an environment that promotes their protection and well-being," he added. "Russian children - indeed all children - need to be in protective and loving families or family-like environments."

UNICEF says there are about 740,000 children without parental care in Russia, according to the Associated Press.

Figures from the US State Department show more than 60,000 Russian children adopted by American families in the last 20 years, including roughly 1,000 in 2011.

Tensions erupted last month when American lawmakers approved legislation known as the Magnitsky Act, which calls for sanctions against Russian citizens deemed by the U.S. to have violated human rights. President Barack Obama signed the bill on December 14.

It is named for Sergei Magnitsky, a Russian whistleblower lawyer who died in a Russian prison in 2009 after accusing officials of being involved in a multi-million dollar tax fraud scheme.