Putin plans to sign Russia adoption ban
The FCPA Blog | Friday, December 28, 2012 at 2:38AM 
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday he'll sign a bill that bans Americans from adopting Russian children.
The Russian parliament approved the bill Wednesday. It will become law if Putin signs it.
The anti-adoption measure is in retaliation for the Magnitsky Act, signed into law by President Obama earlier this month. It bans or revokes U.S. visas and freezes assets of Russians involved in the jailing and death of Sergei Magnitsky, an anti-corruption lawyer.
Magnitsky was detained after uncovering evidence of a $230 million tax fraud by mobsters and government officials. He died in 2009 after spending a year in jail.
The State Department said Americans have adopted more than 60,000 Russian children since 1992.
President Putin, pictured above, has called the adoption ban an appropriate response to the Magnitsky Act. He also said Americans have not been taking care of the Russian children they adopt.
The anti-adoption bill is named for a Russian baby who died after being left in a locked car for hours by his American father.
-- With reporting from voanews.com
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