Russia is ancient country; so I may not see the wisdom of this adoption politics. But one thing is clear: there is dissonance between Russia’s demographic urgency and the rate at which Russian children are adopted in foreign countries. One would have expected that Russia will seek adoption of suitable children and similar schemes to increase its population. I am not Russian and I have no say in this matter but I know that I am against the adoption of Russian children in foreign countries. If a child losses his mother and father; the child still has a homeland, a tradition and a language. Adoption in foreign a country deprives the child all that belonged to him/her whencame to this world. Russia has managed to created dozes of men with so much money in their pockets but it cannot keep its children. This is the first issue discussed at RT that brought so much tears to my eyes.The deeply cynic in me feels Russia’s orphans are being used to sweeten Russian foreign policy relations with the U.S.

This is a mortifying and deeply vexing issue for Russia as well as for all those people who feel for Russia and her children. No country should put her children for sale. Nothing disturbs my soul so much as the destruction of young people dispossessed of their homeland. Open up orphanages, Russia! Stop giving away your children to foreign vultures. Your people need pride, not humiliation.

armen08 Thank you for your wise comment. I feel humiliated by this practice and I am not Russian. I love Russia and that is why it is hard for me to accept that Russia is sending its defenseless orphans to foreign countries rather than taking care of them. What happened in WII when many children became orphaned? Did Russia send them off to foreign countries? This practice is shameful. I cannot think any other word to describe it. All the great media reports of Russia new agreements from oil and gas deals and the prolonging of Russia military presence in the Crimea mean very little to me. What breaks my heart is the idea that Russia's little kids becoming the custodians of foreign countries. Why the Orthodox Church and public intellectuals not speaking out of this humiliating practice?

I am not from America but I am from what is considered a Western country. I am also a mother of a lovely child that I adopted from Russia 5 years ago. My daughter means everything to me and I devote myself to her success and happiness in life. My daughter attends Russian lessons every month with other children that have been adopted from Russia. We try to expose her to her culture in as many ways as available in the country we live in. There are always 2 Russian festivals every year that we attend for Christmas and New Years and we will, one day, take her back to Russia to visit her homeland. Not all overseas adoption stories are bad. I am appalled at the stories which are in the news at the moment and can completely understand the Russian fear for these children. It is important that more rigorous controls are put in place to protect these children and they must be adhered to. If there is any doubt as to the quality of life the child will have then adoption should not be allowed. When I was in Russia I was so sad to see the thousands of children that are in orphanages. Some orphanages have more wealth than others and this dictates how the health and wellbeing of their children. The directors and caregivers do the best they can within their budgets. They love their children but this still does not satisfy the parental love and nurturing that every child needs. I just hope the conclusion that is reached with the talks that are taking place stops this abuse once and for all.

Mother, many thanks for sharing your personal heart warming story with us all. I and others are deeply concerned with the adoption of Russian children in foreign countries not only because these children might be abused. We know there are good and loving parents out there caring for Russian children. however, ther is another, is deeper, cynical project afoot here where vultures [i.e. adoption agencies and corrupted officials] are making millions salling Russian children as prized white commodity for any body with the right money. United States has millions of children in need of loving new parents. In in Russian literature and history, endurance and courage even hopeless situations are a recurring themes. So, why today in Russia is giving what is most precious: its children at the moment when the economy is improving and when Russia is facing demographic crisis? By the way, the theme of impending Russia’s demographic collapse is openly discussed in the United States [see Joe Bidden’s recent diatribe on Russia impeding demographic collapse]. I think this practice is a treason against the future of Russia. That is why I am deeply alarmed by the rate at which Russian children are transferred to other countries. Russian children who are adopted are often from the heart of Russia economic beat: Siberia. We need to ask why this is the case.

One more thing- at the moment when Russia is getting ready welcoming the world in the celebration of 65th anniversary over fascism, it is hard to be experience Russia’s glorious heroic past when the future citizens of the nation are sold off prized commodity in the adoption market. The fact remains today, a Russian family living in Moscow or any other Russian city would have a hard time adopting a child or children from the United States and EU countries. But anybody with the right amount of cash can adopt Russian children. I want to see keeping on the lid on foreign adoption of Russian children. Those of us who care about Russian children but want to keep them in their homeland, we would be happy to contribute cash and other gifts to orphanages and other charities who support vulnerable families and their children in Russia. I am also curious about the dominant view o\f ordinary Russians to the adoption of Russian children in foreign countries. I can sense certain levels of mistrust in Russia of adopting children from troubled families but there is a broader moral imperative here. During slavery in the United States, it was customary for black mothers and grandmothers to raise black children whose parents were sold as slave commodity. The term used to represent raising children who were not biologically related to their new parents was “other mothers.” There is a lesson in this for Russia.. Even poor African countries with little economic clout and political power such as Malawi showed the moral courage and pride to refuse the transfer of its children to France as exotic commodity. Perhaps Russia needs to pay attention to how the world looks at the practice of transferring Russian children in mass to foreign countries. Is there anything money cannot purchase in Russia today at this moment? As for Russian language, transfering Russian children to foreign countries is not the best way to spread Russian culture in the West.

Family, You have many valid concerns and Russia is justifiably a country which inspires great pride in their people. Countries like my own have very few children available for adoption and very long waiting lists for the children that do come up for adoption. Therefore the only way we could adopt was from overseas. Before we adopted we went through a year long rigorous exercise which thoroughly investigated our suitability to adopt a child. Then after we adopted our daughter the government visited us 6 monthly and then annually. I get the impression that the process in the US is much looser and leaves room for unsuitable parents to get through the system.. With regards to the children being adopted locally in Russia I think the authorities do the best they can to encourage adoptions within Russia but we were told that many Russians are only interested in the children when they are babies. Therefore children 4 or older are unlikely to get parents. The situation is very unfortunate for the children as they are the victims of the social situation. However, for many of these children the future is one of poor health, poor education, and ultimately a continuation of the cycle. Yes, if the government could do more to promote local adoptions and to promote the success and happiness of these children that would be the ideal. If it gives you any comfort Russia will always be my daughters motherland. She is very proud to tell her friends that she is from Russia.

Family, Many thanks for your thoughtful response. There are hundred of thousands of children[primarily brown and black skinned kids] in the United States. Many of these kids are never adopted and few lucky once get adopted in Canada and UE countries. African Americans have more positive attitude toward Canada. The reason for this is complex but I will mention only two: Canadian white middle class families often accept open adoption [i.e. the child will know his true identity, whose real parents are, etc], if possible the biological parents are allowed to visit adopted children. The Russian children adopted in the U.S will not have future access to their biological families. Also even thought Russia is a multi-Ethnic nation, almost all the Russian orphans adopted in the United States are “Slavic looking” and they are being purchased for their white ethnic heritage. The U.S has 80M families with no access to basic healthcare, education is hierarchical, stratified and segregated. The U.S white middle class families drive to adopt as many little Slavic Russian kids is matched only by the increasing xenophobia in the U.S against Mexican illegal immigrants. Anybody who truly care about Russia and its future would refrain from taking its children but instead contribute making the welfare of Russian children better. This is an issue of national security and its up to the Russians to decide. I can only express my deeply felt feeling on this matter. Because I love Russia so much, my plan is to find an orphanage that looks after orphans and make financial contribution and perhaps "adopt few children" in the sense of contributing to their future developments such as helping them with their career developments[ i.e music lessons, foreign languages, etc]. I am in the process of researching how I can help; I will never think of taking a Russian children from his homeland.

Correction: My last post was to addressed to Mother.

Your intentions of financially helping the orphanages and adopting some of the children are admirable. I have looked for ways that I could sponsor a child in Russia but for some reason World Vision has children from Armenia, Bulgaria, but no children from Russia. If you could advise a way we could assist please let me know. I wish that we could contact my daughter's birth relatives but in her very tragic case the authorities could not find any living relatives. It is very difficult for a child growing up not being able to remember her birth mother and father. But this would not be any different if she was still in Russia. Although my daughter resides in a different country, this doesn't make her any less Russian. We support and expose her to the arts, culture, and language of Russia with every chance we get.

Mother, Thank you. However, I do not support organisations with fundamentalist views such as World Vision. Russian Children are by and large Christian Orthodox background, so what is World Vision doing in Russia? Similar to USAID, I have primarily native views of World Vision. I am however, curious why you have not addressed the lack of compassion for the 80M Americans without access to basic healthcare, millions of children with substandard education, xenophobia toward illegal immigrants in the United States. The United States is not the best place to raise children today and I would not raise children in the U.S today. Money and commodities are not always what children need. It is possible a child can became compassionate and competent citizen if he/she is raised in an orphanage than if he is raised by narrow minded right wing families inside a country imbued with ideological warfare, political, racial and ethnic intolerance where less than 20% of the citizens travel outside the country. For a half a century, the USSR has been represented as evil an empire behind an iron curtain by Hollywood and U.S politicians, today it’s the United States that is behind an iron curtain of fear and isolation. I would not like Russian or any other foreign children brought in to the United States under these conditions.

The actions that sparked this debate are appalling and should be criminally prosecuted. However, generalizing Americans so broadly is a bit painful. I am American but I always identify with my Slavic, Orthodox roots and have a post-graduate degree in Russian history so adopting from Russia is to share our common culture. Not xenophobia, not buying babies, not stealing children from their fatherland. My case may be more unique than most but I am praying that the passport that I carry will not be the deciding factor on adoption plans. Additional monitoring, post-placement visits, etc. are all welcomed since most of us are concerned for the best interests of the children.

Slavyanka, y Russia’s supposed demographic collapse is a common talking points in the U.S political circles . Russia needs its children very badly. And yes, this is almost always about purchasing white babies- majority of those who buy Russian babies are not Russian. Most of them are from the American South. Thus, ina a country divided by race, class and ethnicity purchasing Russian Slavic looking babies matter. It is great that you do speak Russian but what does your command of the Russian language has to do with the need to keep Russia's children in Russia? Russia is a powerful nation- but here Mother’s speaks Russia in the same category as Bulgaria and Armenia. Thus, she wants people to give donations to World Vision to save Russian children! Just imagine that! How do you imagine Russia in that way and once you do that can you think Russian in terms of nuclear power, Gasprom, submarines, artic expeditions, the Black Fleet, the very imaginary of resurgence Russia! This is damaging and embarrassing to Russia. This practice cannot continue without bring utter shame to Russia's prestige. How can anybody would trust a nation that is soo corrupt that it cannot protect its children. This is total disgrace. I am not Russian but I feel that makes Russia look very bad eyes of the World.

Since the foreign adoption of Russian children continue to remain in the media headlines, we need to know what is the power of the President of Russia and that elected officials on matters of foreign adoption of Russian children? Few weeks ago announcemen that freeze of foreign adoption of Russian children was made but now we are told that it cannot be done!. It appears this cannot be done until there is a change to Russia's family code. This in turn means that Russian children can leave the country in mass until changes to the family code is made! This is incredible. What I wish to know is what is the relationship between the power of president to call for freeze of specific practice as a matter of executive order and lower’Duma’s power to block that executive order- in this case, blacking the freeze of foreign adoption of Russian children.. We are watching this issue because some of us have deep interest in this issue because. We want to see that abandoned/orphaned Russian children receive proper care inside Russia before making them available to foreign adoption.