FM: Russia building database of children adopted abroad

Moscow has been creating a database of all Russian children adopted abroad, which is a complicated process, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Friday."The situation is complicated because after moving to, say, the United States, a child immediately receives the U.S. citizenship and name," Lavrov said during a question time in the State Duma, the lower house of the parliament.This practice makes it difficult to figure out that a certain child was adopted from Russia, Lavrov explained."This is why we are currently working on building a database of all Russians adopted (abroad). We have sent a request to the U.S. administration and would demand a response," he said.Lavrov added that Russia would continue to monitor the fate of the Russian-born children in the U.S. despite Moscow's unilateral withdrawal from the child adoption agreement signed in 2012.Russia withdrew from the agreement with United States on child adoption on Jan. 1, 2013. However, according to the document, its provisions remain valid until Jan. 1, 2014."We'll keep insisting on obtaining from the U.S. State Department information about the living conditions of the Russian children adopted by the U.S. citizens," Lavrov said.The Russian top diplomat informed that the issue was discussed in his recent talks with his U.S. counterpart John Kerry, who promised to cooperate with Russia in the children affairs.Moscow is currently negotiating the fate of two Russian boys, Kirill Kuzmin and Yegor Shatabalov, who have been adopted to the United States.Kirill's senior brother Max, adopted along with Kirill, died in January. Yegor was adopted by a lesbian couple.According to Russian Deputy Prime Minister Olga Golodets, currently, there are about 120,000 orphans in the country.