MOSCOW – The lower house of the Russian parliament has passed a bill that would ban adoption of Russian children by Americans, sending the controversial legislation a step closer to President Vladimir Putin's desk.
Putin hasn't said whether he will sign the measure into law if it passes its next stage of being approved by the upper house of parliament.
Some top government officials including the foreign minister and the education minister have spoken flatly against the bill, but it received overwhelming approval in Friday's third reading in the State Duma, passing by a vote of 420-7-1.
The adoption ban is one part of a larger measure retaliating against a recently signed U.S. law that calls for sanctions against Russians deemed to be human rights violators.
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