Russia has not yet introduced a ban on the adoption of Russian children by U.S. families, Russian science and education minister Andrei Fursenko said on Wednesday.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said last month that Russia could freeze child adoptions by U.S. citizens until the countries sign an intergovernmental agreement on adoptions.
"Adoptions can be frozen only by a special State Duma bill, or a presidential decree," Andrei Fursenko said. "As far as I know, neither the president, nor the State Duma raised the issue."
So far, Russian officials can only freeze licenses of foreign adoption agencies on its territory.
The minister said introducing a ban on adoptions would be the wrong thing to do as it would violates children's rights and hopes of being part of a normal family.
Russia is one of the largest sources of adoptions to the United States, but the issue has become controversial in Russia in recent years following numerous incidents involving the mistreatment of Russian adopted children in the country.
The issue came back into focus recently when a seven-year-old boy was put on a plane alone back to Moscow by his U.S. adoptive mother, who said he was "psychopathic." The case led to repeated calls for a ban on foreign adoptions of Russian children.
Of the 18 Russian children whose deaths were caused by their foreign adoptive parents since the collapse of the Soviet Union, 17 of these cases occurred in the U.S., according to the Russian Science and Education Ministry.
However, experts have pointed out that some 1,900 children are killed by adults every year across Russia.
MOSCOW, May 5 (RIA Novosti)
