US officials decry Putin for signing 'shameful' adoption ban

[WestVirginiaRebel]

Fox News:

U.S. officials assailed Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday after he signed a bill banning American families from adopting Russian children, with Sen. John McCain calling the law "shameful."

The harsh law was seen as retaliation for an American law that calls for sanctions against Russians deemed to be human rights violators.

But U.S. officials said the two laws are hardly comparable. McCain, R-Ariz., said the idea that banning all adoptions to America is a fair tit-for-tat is "utterly baseless."

"Our law singles out and punishes individual Russian officials who are corrupt and complicit in gross human rights abuses," McCain said in a statement Friday. "Russia's barring of adoptions broadly punishes the neediest, most defenseless, and most innocent members of its own society."

He called it "shameful and appalling" that Putin signed a bill that effectively denies thousands of Russian children a loving home.

The law cuts off one of the main international routes for Russian children to leave often dismal orphanages. Russia is the single biggest source of adopted children in the U.S., with more than 60,000 Russian children being taken in by Americans over the past two decades.

The State Department, stressing how many children had been taken in by American parents, said Friday that they "deeply regret" the law's passage.

"The Russian government's politically motivated decision will reduce adoption possibilities for children who are now under institutional care," spokesman Patrick Ventrell said.

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Putin postures amid Russia's demographic problems.

[pollyannaish]

Well. Clearly that wasn't "for the children."