MOSCOW, October 19 (RIA Novosti) - Russia is concerned by reports that homosexual couples in the United States are being illegally given the custody of Russian orphans, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.
“Time and time again our children are given away by families who adopted them legally to illegal adopters. It is often the case with same-sex couples, which is illegal under Russian laws,” Lavrov said in a show on Russia’s NTV channel.
Russia passed two laws in early 2013 that restricted adoptions of Russian children in countries that recognize same-sex marriages. The ban applies to married gay couples and unmarried couples.
A separate legislation, dubbed Dima Yakovlev Law, specifically outlawed adoptions of Russian orphans by Americans. It is named after a Russian toddler who died of heatstroke in 2008 after his American adoptive father left him in an overheated car for hours. Russian officials blame adoptive parents in the United States for the deaths of at least 19 Russian children.
