Russia parliament approves ban on US adoptions
A Russian-born boy with his American adoptive father in Washington, DC, in 2011. Russia is seeking to ban US citizens from adopting Russian children.
Russia's proposed ban on American adoptions is moving forward. The Russian upper house of parliament approved a bill today that would ban Americans from adopting Russian children and outlaw some US-funded NGOs in Russia.
The lower house of Parliament already approved the bill last week. Now that it has unanimous approval from the upper house, it is expected to be sent to President Vladimir Putin to sign. Putin has not committed yet to signing the bill but seems to support it, Reuters reported.
At immediate stake are 46 Russian children who were supposed to be adopted by American families, ABC News reported. Those adoptions will be frozen if the bill becomes law.
More from GlobalPost: Russia's ban on US adoptions passed by parliament, despite human rights concerns
The law was drafted in retaliation for a new law passed in the United States that sanctions Russian officials implicated in the prison death of lawyer Sergei Magnitsky in 2009, Agence France Presse reported.
Amnesty International has many problems with the Russian bill, saying on its website that it wouldn't just affect children: "The bill allows the Ministry of Justice to arbitrarily stop activities and freeze the assets of NGOs that they consider to be involved in political activities, receive funding from US citizens or organizations or conduct activities threatening the interests of the Russian Federation."
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