A delegation of U.S. Department of State officials will pay a visit to Moscow next week for talks on child adoption rules, an assistant secretary for the department said.
The issue has become controversial in Russia in recent years, following numerous incidents in the U.S. involving adopted children from Russia. In the latest case, a U.S. couple sent their 7-year-old adopted son back to Russia last week claiming he was "psychopathic."
"In fact, this trip was being put together even before last week's incident. But Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Consular Affairs Michael Kirby will lead a team to Russia... I think the arrangements are still being worked out. But clearly, this latest situation will be among those things discussed," Philip Crowley told a daily press briefing.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said last Friday that Russia could freeze child adoptions by U.S. citizens until the countries sign an intergovernmental agreement on adoptions following the Artyom Savelyev case.
Savelyev, adopted in September and renamed Justin, flew in to Moscow on April 8 alone after being accompanied to the plane in the United States by his adoptive grandmother. He brought a note in which his adoptive mother said she would not take care of him any longer because he is "mentally unstable."
The activities of the U.S. adoption agency World Association for Children and Parents (WACAP) that assisted in the U.S. couple's adoption of Savelyev have been suspended in Russia.
WASHINGTON, April 13 (RIA Novosti)
