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Electronic database on Russian children adopted in US to be created soon

The U.S. Department of State expressed readiness to share information about these children and their parents
Photo ITAR-TASS
Photo ITAR-TASS

MOSCOW, June 27 (Itar-Tass) - A special electronic database will be developed on Russian children adopted in the United States, the press service of the Russian children rights’ ombudsman said on Thursday, commenting on a working visit to the United States by children rights’ ombudsman Pavel Astakhov and Konstantin Dolgov, the Russian foreign ministry’s human rights envoy.

As of now, measures are taken to check the lists of Russian children who left Russia in the past 20 years (since 1991) and those who are registered with Russian consular services in the United States (More than 49,000 left Russia, while only 37,438 are registered with consular services). The U.S. Department of State expressed readiness to share information about these children and their parents. As a first step, the U.S. Department of State furnished information from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency.

According to the press service, it is expected that the problem of delayed answers to the Russian Investigations Committee’s and the Prosecutor General Office’s requests will soon be settled. The Russian Prosecutor General’s Office issued the latest request on April 23, 2013 after this problem was raised at Russian-U.S. consultations on April 16-18. Only one out of the Prosecutor General Office’s 17 requests has been answered.

A similar situation is around requests from the Russian ministry of education and science, which is awaiting three answers. The U.S. Department of State has promised to ask adoptive parents and adoptions agencies to fulfill their liabilities and provide reports.