MOSCOW, March 7 (Itar-Tass) - The proposal by U.S. congressmen to include the authors of the Dima Yakovlev law in the Magnitsky list puts in doubt the USA's readiness to work productively towards the protection of Russian children's rights, first deputy chairwoman of the Russian parliament committee or family, women and children Olga Batalina /United Russia faction/ said in an interview to Itar-Tass.
Earlier, mass media outlets reported that the U.S. Congress would seek to blacklist the authors of the Russian law -- which bans the adoption of Russian children by Americans -- and put them on "the Magnitsky list."
"In fact, this statement scraps all the previous U.S. declarations regarding its readiness to productively work on the protection of Russian children's rights in the USA. Also, it shows that there are only politics in this issue and the Americans are concerned about adoption for political considerations, not because of the need to protect the interests of the Americans who are ready to adopt children," the parliamentarian said.
In her opinion, the talk on this theme "seriously discredited the U.S. Congress, to which the Russian parliament recently offered to jointly ensure the protection of dozens of thousands of Russian children living in the USA.
"If the Congress decided to respond to the proposal on joint work in such a manner, it only proves that the U.S. adoption ban is justified. And if all the attempts and proposals to establish control result in odd political statements, I'm afraid we won't be able to achieve significant results in the protection of Russian children in the USA," Batalina said.
When asked if the State Duma /lower house of the Russian parliament/ would respond to a possible U.S. decision, Batalina said "this /proposal to expand the Magnitsky list/ was an initiative from certain congressmen and that the Congress would not support it.
Earlier, Russian lawmaker from the Liberal Democratic Party /LDPR/ Yelena Afanasyeva, who co-authored the Dima Yakovlev law, said she saw no personal tragedy in a possible ban on her entry to the United States.
"I'm a Russian deputy, I stand up for the interests of my country, my people and our children," Afanasyeva told Itar-Tass in an interview on Wednesday.
She noted that protecting orphans had always had priority for her. "We didn't give our children even in wartime; we don't allow to extradite criminals; why should we give away our own?" the lawmaker said.
Afanasyeva underlined that it was up to the U.S. authorities to blacklist the authors of the bill which Russia passed in retaliation against the Magnitsky Act.
"They can do it, but this won't change our position. We can only regret that U.S. diplomats take their revenge upon children's defenders in such a manner," she said.