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Pavel Astakhov agrees to meet US ambassador to RF

Michael McFaul, on Thursday said on the Echo of Moscow radio station that he intends to discuss issues of adoption with Astakhov

Photo ITAR-TASS

Photo ITAR-TASS

MOSCOW, March 8 (Itar-Tass) – Russian Presidential Commissioner for Children’s Rights Pavel Astakhov has agreed to meet with the US Ambassador in Moscow, Michael McFaul, to discuss the problems of adopted Russian children.

On Thursday, the commissioner received a corresponding official request from the US diplomatic mission. “The meeting will certainly take place,” said Astakhov. According to the children’s ombudsman, the problem of adopted Russian children in the United States “is not Russian or American, but our common misfortune.”

“Our task is to find a civilised, effective, legal mechanism to secure the rights of Russian children who have become part of the American society,” he added in his microblog.

Michael McFaul, on Thursday said on the Echo of Moscow radio station that he intends to discuss issues of adoption with Astakhov and the head of the Committee on the Family, Women and Children’s Affairs in the State Duma lower house of parliament, Yelena Mizulina. Earlier, the US ambassador declined an invitation of Russia’s lawmakers to discuss the situation with the adoption at the State Duma. As a rule, American ambassadors do not participate in hearings in foreign parliaments, he said.

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