Duma, the Russian parliament approved a law prohibiting the adoption of Russian children by American citizens.
Here is the detailed coverage of the event in New York Times.
There are 678 thousand children in Russian orphanages today, more than during the World War II. Two-thirds of these children ended up in the orphanage with living parents. The number of children living in Russian orphanages leads the world.
Over 20 years, Americans have adopted more than sixty thousands Russian children.
Nineteen of them have died. Russian propaganda raised hell about a case of a Russian boy who died as a result of negligence of American adoptive parents. In last year alone, 1700 children lost their lives in Russia as victims of violence according to official statistics.
In reality these figures are much higher. Here is the information published by the Deputy General Prosecutor Viktor Greegn: “In the Orenburg region, out of 26 lost children, only one is found; in the Perm region 27 children are lost, none is found”. It is a typical situation all over the Russia.
A web site interfax.ru published last week a list of children who died in Russia this year as a result of activity of grownups. The list is horrifying. At list one case every day.
- A mother threw her baby in a snowdrift to avenge her unwed husband.
- A step father had beaten his stepdaughter to death.
- A drunk mother threw her 1-year-old son from the balcony because he cried food.
- A woman forced her son’s 5-year-old adopted daughter stark naked out of home in the winter to freeze.
Russian free press and Internet are full with emotional protests against the new law.
The poster below is an example of such protest publication.
“Member of Duma, I’ll remember you!”
Nevertheless an Internet pool showed that 52% of Russians approve the new law. Among them are most of the official representatives of Russian Orthodox Church, and, of course, members of Parliament.
Here is the typical example of the explanation of their position.
According to Svetlana Goryacheva, member of the State Duma:
“In front of the eyes of entire stunned world, the United States unleashes one massacre war after another. They need human bodies for these wars.
“The United States established a special state authority to organize foreign adoptions. At the same time, the intermediary foundations were created to search for lobbyists in other countries, who will facilitate the adoptions and delivery of children to the US. This is the reality of today.
“That’s how the flow of children into America started from many countries, including underdeveloped countries, including Russia. Sixty thousand orphans are taken out of Russia!… And even if only one-tenth of these orphaned children would be tormented, used for organ transplants or for sexual pleasure… fifty thousand still will be recruited as solders for the American wars, including a war against Russia.”
It is ludicrous to think the US can compete with such extreme Russian misinformation, unless of course we are willing to return to the cold war propaganda of yesteryear. Putin has thwarted all attempts at a western style democratic republic. One only need read the writings of Chess champion and political activist Gary Kasparov to learn the facts. Putin’s government is our enemy and we better soon learn it. Let’s limit Russian access to our markets and ask others to do likewise. Any leader willing to use children to further his goals isn’t much of a man and we should tell him so.