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Moscow concerned over violations of adopted children’s rights in US — diplomat

According to a diplomat, Russia is seriously concerned over the growing number of cases when the rights of children adopted by US citizens are violated

MOSCOW, September 14. /TASS/. Moscow is seriously concerned over the growing number of incidents when the rights of Russian children adopted in the United States are violated, the Foreign Ministry’s Commissioner for Human Rights, Democracy and Rule of Law, Konstantin Dolgov said.

"We are seriously concerned over the information coming from the United States on the growing number of facts when the rights and legal interests of Russian children adopted by US citizens are violated," Dolgov said.

The diplomat reminded that many inquiries of Russia’s law enforcers through the Prosecutor General’s Office and the Investigative Committee remain without answer in breach of the US international commitments, including the 1999 Treaty on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters.

Russia did not receive "any clear answers" from Washington regarding the violations during the Russian-US consultations in Moscow on Wednesday, the diplomat said. "As we know Washington continues avoiding bilateral consultations for a substantive discussion on the load of problems in the "adoption" area of the relations due to the US fault."

The US Department of State and Department of Justice have not so far provided any data on the results of the investigation into the facts when Russian orphans were traded online. "Due to the vicious US judicial practice the foster parents often get off with symbolic terms or simply avoid punishment for grave crimes such as murder, severe bodily harm and cruel and inhuman treatment," Dolgov said.

Despite Washington’s "unconstructive position," Russia is ready for cooperation based on the 1999 Treaty, he said. "We expect that Washington will ultimately take certain practical steps on investigating the violations of rights of the adopted Russian children, bringing those guilty to justice and will inform Russia swiftly and fully on the results of the inquest."

Russia’s lawmakers passed the so-called Dima Yakovlev law that took effect in January 2013 banning US citizens from adopting children in Russia. The legislation is named after a child from northwest Russia's Pskov region who died of heat stroke four months after being adopted by a US couple when his adoptive father left him in a parked car for nine hours.