Russian children adopted to U.S. normally have no visa problems traveling to Russia - diplomat
MOSCOW. Feb 19 (Interfax) - Russian children adopted by U.S. families never have visa problems when they travel to Russia if their parents follow the existing procedures regulating the issuance of passports and visas, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said.
"Problems arise only when adoptive parents ignore these rules and do not care about extending a Russian passport or sometimes get rid of it completely," Lukashevich said in reply to a question from Interfax in commenting on media reports alleging that Russian children adopted to the United States face visa problems when traveling to Russia.
"Such an allegation has nothing in common with reality," Lukashevich said.
"Each Russian child adopted by foreigners retains Russian citizenship until coming of age," Lukashevich said.
"In leaving the country, they are provided with a foreign-travel passport valid for five years. All adopters are familiarized with the Russian law that stipulates that, upon arriving in a different country, the child must be registered with the nearest consular institution and the passport must be extended timely. Then the children will have no problems traveling to their home country," he said.
Sometimes "adoptive parents produce a child's American passport, demanding that a visa be put there, which goes against the Russian law, since a minor still remains to be a Russian citizen," he said.
"The blame for such incidents fully falls on the American adoptive parents taking an irresponsible approach toward keeping the documents of an adopted child in order," Lukashevich said.
