MOSCOW, February 21 (RIA Novosti) - Russian investigators are looking into the circumstances of a Russian child’s adoption by a US woman who concealed her same-sex marriage, a spokesman for the Russian Investigative Committee said on Wednesday.
"On an instruction from Investigative Committee Chairman Alexander Bastrykin, a probe was launched into circumstances of a Russian child’s adoption by a woman, who concealed the fact that she was in a same-sex marriage,” spokesman Vladimir Markin said.
Yegor Shatabalov was adopted in 2007. According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, his adoptive mother broke up with her partner a couple of years later, and the two women became embroiled in a custody battle for the child.
“We are convinced that Yegor has found himself in an intolerable situation that damaged his psychological health,” said Konstantin Dolgov, Russian Foreign Ministry's special representative for human rights, democracy and the rule of law. “It all contradicts with the boy’s best interests, he requires normal living conditions and should be raised in a fully functional family.”
Russia banned US adoptions starting from January 2013, citing numerous crimes committed against Russian children in the country as a reason behind the move.
According to US State Department figures, more than 60,000 Russian children have been adopted by Americans over the past two decades. Of those, Russian officials say 20 were killed as a result of their American parents' actions.
