Vladimir Putin may be the last chance for thousands of Russian orphans looking for homes with families in the United States after the upper house of parliament banned such adoptions in
retaliation for a US human rights law targeting Russian officials.
It is an unusual predicament for human rights advocates who have long criticized the Russian president, but who must now rely on action by him to reverse course on the adoption ban.
However Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has indicated Putin may follow through by signing the measure into law, noting the "many arguments" for the move despite protests from Putin's own human
rights council.
The upper house of Russia's parliament on Wednesday unanimously passed the adoption bill, which had already passed the lower house, the Duma, amid heightened tensions between the two countries.
US officials have voiced concern over the move and said it is difficult to see the measure as a reciprocal bill to the US human rights legislation.
"What the Russians are doing is effectively preventing ... children from growing up in a family environment of happiness, love, and understanding," State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell said
last week.
He pointed to a recently agreed bilateral adoption agreement between Washington and Moscow, and said disagreements over adoptions could be settled through that framework. "Really, it's Russian
children who would be harmed by this measure," he said.
The Russian bill has been dubbed the Dima Yakovlev law after a 21-month-old Russian adoptee who died in 2008 when his adopted father forgot him in a hot car. Many Russians expressed outrage that his father was acquitted of involuntary manslaughter. Russian nationalists are delighted by the bill.
The government's children's rights commissioner, Pavel Astakhov, has gone further, claiming international adoptions are damaging to children. He pointed to 19 adopted Russian children who have died in the US in the past 20 years. But in that period, some 60,000 children were welcomed by American families.
Critics of the legislation also point to the 650,000 Russian children in need of families with little hope of a happy future.
Violence in foster families and orphanages is common, they say, though there are no statistics. Many of the 100,000 orphans in orphanages face poor care and education.
Adoption advocates also note that US families frequently adopted handicapped children, who are more difficult to place with Russian families and note these children will be most hurt by the law.
In New York, the UN Children's Fund, called on Russian authorities to improve the child welfare system and allow the children's best interest to determine policy.
"We encourage the government to establish a robust national social protection plan to help strengthen Russian families. Alternatives to the institutionalization of children are essential, including permanent foster care, domestic adoption and inter-country adoption," UNICEF executive director Anthony Lake said Wednesday.
"All children deserve an environment that promotes their protection and well-being. Russian children – indeed all children - need to be in protective and loving families or family-like
environments."
A total of 46 children currently in the process of being adopted by American parents will be directly impacted by the law, Astakhov said.
The law is a direct response to the Magnitsky Act signed into law by President Barack Obama to target Russian officials charged with human rights violations.
"The absurdity is that the Magnitsky Act is aimed at our
officials, but our law hurts sick orphans," said Galina Michalyova of the liberal Russian United Democratic Party Yabloko.
The law is a new low in US-Russian relations, with little of the goodwill remaining from the so-called "new start" that Obama hoped to forge between the countries.
Alexei Pushkov, the Chairman of the Russian Duma's International Affairs Committee, has vowed to react to all US sanctions against Russia.
Practically unmentioned in Russia is the fate of Sergei Magnitsky, the lawyer who publicized a corruption scandal in the Russian Interior Ministry before being detained under dubious charges in
Moscow and dying in custody. His death remains unpunished.