(Reuters) – President Vladimir Putin has ratified a new agreement with the United States that tightens up rules for U.S. citizens adopting Russian children, his office said on Monday, after a spate of abuse cases that have outraged public opinion in Russia.
More than 60,000 Russian children have been adopted by foreigners, mostly Americans, since the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union, a touchy subject with the Russian authorities who favor domestic adoption.
“Not every international adoption ends happily,” the office of Pavel Astakhov, Russia’s Children’s Rights Commissioner, said in a statement. “According to official data only, 19 Russian children died at the hands of U.S. citizens over the last 10 years.”
Several high-profile cases in which Russian-born children have died in the United States after abuse by their new parents have generated headlines in Russia and been condemned by Russian politicians.
