Adoption of Russian children by foreigners to stop in near future - children's rights commissioner

MOSCOW. June 4 (Interfax) - The number of Russian children adopted by foreigners has fallen almost 90% over the past two years, according to the 2023 report of Russian presidential children's rights commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova published on her website.

"In 2023, the federal statistic survey [...] showed that foreign nationals adopted only 0.27% of children (six) of the total number of minors handed over for adoption (2,243). This is a more than 89% decrease from 2022 (6 children in 2023 compared to 57 in 2022)," the report said.

"The current international situation and ensuing significant changes in bilateral relations with Western countries seem to ultimately lead a complete stop in foreign adoptions of Russian children in the near future," it said.

There are only European states on the list of Western countries adopting Russian children, the report said.

"In 2023, citizens of Italy (five children) and France (one child) adopted Russian children. Let's recall that Russia has children adoption cooperation agreements with these countries. Citizens of two more countries that signed similar agreements, Spain and Israel, did not adopt Russian children in the reporting period," the report said.