Putin signs anti-US adoptions bill

President Vladimir Putin on Friday signed a bill banning Americans from adopting Russian children. He signed it less than 24 hours after receiving it from Parliament, where both houses passed it overwhelmingly.

The law also calls for closure of NGOs receiving American funding if their activities are classified as political.

The law comes into force from January 1.

Children's rights ombudsman Pavel Astakhov said that 46 children who were about to be adopted in the US would remain in Russia if the bill comes into effect. The bill has angered many who argue it victimises children to make a political point.

The new Russian law was dubbed the "Dima Yakovlev Bill" after a toddler who died in 2008 when his American adoptive father left him in a car in broiling heat for hours.

The ban is in response to a measure signed into law by US President Barack Obama that calls for sanctions against Russians assessed to be human rights violators. It stemmed from the case of Sergei Magnitsky, a Russian lawyer who was arrested after accusing officials of a $230 million tax fraud. He was denied medical aid and died in jail in 2009.

A prison doctor who was the only official charged in the case was acquitted by a Moscow court on Friday.

ALSO READ

Agent in America raises funds for Imran's party, sends over $7 lakh

LeJ, death squads loom over Baloch polls

Pak prosecutor handling 26/11 attack, Bhutto assassination cases shot dead

Veteran BBC sportscaster Stuart Hall admits 14 indecent assaults