All news

US claims return Kirill Kuzmin to Russia impossible under US laws

Russia cannot affirm for sure that the adoptive parents of the boy are guilty, but Russia has some doubts in the investigation of Maxim Kuzmin's death
Photo ITAR-TASS
Photo ITAR-TASS

MOSCOW, July 31 (Itar-Tass) - The United States stated that it is impossible to return boy Kirill Kuzmin to Russia under the U.S. laws. This was reported by Russian Foreign Ministry’s Commissioner for Human Rights, Democracy and Supremacy of Law Konstantin Dolgov  on Wednesday.

“They said that this (the return of the boy to homeland - Itar-Tass) is impossible under U.S. laws,” the diplomat said. In his words, Russia cannot affirm for sure that the adoptive parents of the boy are guilty, but Russia has some doubts in the investigation of Maxim Kuzmin's death.

Maxim Kuzmin, 3, who was given the name Max Alan after the adoption, and his younger brother Kirill (Kristopher Elvin) were adopted from a children’s home in the town of Pechory, Pskov region, by Alan and Laura Shatto, who live in Gardendale, Texas, in late 2012. A court decision on their adoption was passed in October 2012, and in late December - early January the children were brought to the United States. The boy died on January 21, less than two weeks after his third birthday. Postmortem examination revealed numerous injuries.

However, U.S. forensic experts said the boy’s death was accidental. The official cause of death was mesenterial intestine arteriorrhexis after a blunt force trauma. In March, the U.S. prosecutors decided not to bring any charges against the boy’s adoptive parents due to the insufficiency of evidence.