According to this article, Russian law bans single parents and same-sex couples from adopting. Russian children account for half of all foreign children adopted in Israel. It appears that Israel and Russia have just reached a formal agreement that same-sex couples in Israel will not be able to adopt Russian children.
Legislation honoring Sergei Magnitsky in the United States was designed to allow for visa restrictions and asset freezes over connected Russian officials in response to the death of an attorney in Russia, Sergei Magnitsky, who was believed to have been tortured and killed in prison soon after he alleged corruption by government officials. In retaliation to the US legislation restricting rights of connected Russian officials, Russia banned adoption of Russian children by adoptive parents from the United States. Now, according to this report, Britain may also be considering legislation similar to the legislation in the United States honoring Magnitsky by punishing connected Russian officials with visa restrictions, asset freezes, and other restrictions.
Since the 2012 Russian ban on families in the United States adopting children in orphanages, a Russian experiment is underway that breaks the traditional orphanage model.
Report that United States Republican Representative Doug Collins of Georgia wrote a letter to the U.S. State Department to pressure Russia to end their ban on adoption of Russian children by citizens of the United States. The Russian ban on U.S. citizens adopting Russian children was enacted by Russia in January 2013 in retaliation to the Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act passed by the U.S. Congress prohibiting Russian officials with ties to the Russian mob from entering the United States or using the American banking system.
New York Times reports: Attorney Sergei Magnitsky died in a Russian prison after allegedly accusing the police of stealing $230 million in fraudulent tax rebates.
Mr. Magnitsky’s death led Congress to blacklist Russian officials for rights abuses causing the Russians to retaliate by banning US Citizens from adopting.
A new documentary – The Magnitsky Act – suggests Mr. Magnitsky was not attempting to blow the whistle but was an accomplice in the theft.
