Russia to allow 'some orphans' to be adopted in US
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In this Dec 20, 2012 file photo, Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during a news conference in Moscow. The Kremlin on Thursday, Jan 10, 2013 said that an adoption deal with the US will remain valid until 2014 despite a new Russian law banning the practice, but no new adoptions will be permitted and only those already cleared by Russian courts before the ban will be allowed to complete. -- PHOTO: AP
MOSCOW (AFP) - Russian children whose adoption has already been approved by the courts will be able to go to the United States (US) despite a blanket ban on American adoptions, a Kremlin spokesman said on Friday.
"Those who have received a court decision will go," President Vladimir Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov told AFP. "Those who do not have a decision will not go."
He declined to give further details but Russian officials say 52 children were in the process of being adopted by US parents when the controversial ban on US adoptions came into force on Jan 1.
Russia adopted the law in reprisal for new US legislation that targets Russian officials who have allegedly committed rights abuses.
