"There are a lot of mediators now, but there is no accountability for mediation," Vladimir Kolesnikov told the lower house of the Russian parliament.
The official said he regretted that an article on punishment for child trade had been deleted from the Penal Code and that it was very difficult to prove guilt under current legislation.
Kolesnikov said foreign adoption agencies in Russia charged between $15,000 and $80,000 and that he resented that part of the funds were paid to Russian functionaries.
The official stressed that there were no official statistics on adopted children in Russia, except for outrageous cases of child deaths. Kolesnikov said that 15 Russian children, including 14 in the United States, had died in foreign foster families over the last decade.
He said that punishment for the cruel treatment of children in Russia was lower than punishments for cruelty to animals. He said the number of adoptions by Russians had declined by 50% over the last 12 years, whereas foreign adoptions had grown by 350%.
"The main reasons for this are low living standards and a lack of government support for Russians," he said.
There are some 800,000 orphans in Russia.
