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By Victor Davidoff<\/p>\n

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Published: December 26, 2012 (Issue # 1741)<\/p>\n

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After the\u00a0State Duma passed a\u00a0bill banning adoptions by\u00a0Americans, journalist Valery Panyushkin wrote on\u00a0Facebook, \u201cI know of\u00a0only two organizations in\u00a0the world that scare their enemies by\u00a0harming their own children: Hamas and\u00a0the United Russia party.\u201d<\/p>\n

As a\u00a0child welfare activist in\u00a0addition to\u00a0being a\u00a0journalist, Panyushkin knows better than most how disastrous the\u00a0situation is for\u00a0Russia\u2019s orphans. Today, more than 100,000 orphans live in\u00a0state institutions, and\u00a0about 11,000 are adopted in\u00a0Russia every year. Children with cerebral palsy, other genetic conditions and\u00a0HIV have it worst of\u00a0all. Their chances of\u00a0being adopted in\u00a0Russia are nil. They are often denied basic care and\u00a0grow up unable to\u00a0speak or communicate. As\u00a0 children\u2019s rights activist Ksenia Fisher wrote on\u00a0Twitter, \u201cThe last time I was in\u00a0an orphanage, I remember what the\u00a0kids with disabilities said. They all dream of\u00a0being adopted by\u00a0Americans. Otherwise, no one will take them.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is also well-known that the\u00a0chances a\u00a0child will die after being adopted by\u00a0a family in\u00a0Russia are almost 40 times higher than if adopted by\u00a0a family in\u00a0the West. In\u00a0just a\u00a0few days, more than 100,000 people signed a\u00a0petition asking the\u00a0Duma to\u00a0vote against the\u00a0ban. There was even opposition to\u00a0the ban among some United Russia deputies, and\u00a0the Kremlin was compelled to\u00a0take unprecedented tough measures to\u00a0tame their unruly deputies to\u00a0vote for\u00a0the ban. The\u00a0deputies were given an\u00a0ultimatum: Vote for\u00a0the law or be ousted from\u00a0the faction and\u00a0lose your parliamentary seat. Deputy Alexander Sidyakin abstained, and\u00a0he was asked to\u00a0write a\u00a0note explaining that the\u00a0electronic voting system at\u00a0his seat \u201cbroke.\u201d Sidyakin refused and\u00a0is now awaiting the\u00a0party\u2019s decision on\u00a0whether his seat will be taken away.<\/p>\n

That wasn\u2019t the\u00a0only dramatic moment in\u00a0the debates. Vyacheslav Osipov, another United Russia deputy, had chest pains and\u00a0didn\u2019t attend the\u00a0voting. But he left his electronic voting card with another party member. His colleague voted for\u00a0him, and\u00a0Osipov\u2019s vote for\u00a0the ban was duly registered. The\u00a0twist was that by\u00a0the time deputies cast their votes, Osipov had already died of\u00a0a heart attack. Even the\u00a0most rational mind would see a\u00a0bad omen in\u00a0a blessing from\u00a0a dead man.<\/p>\n

In\u00a0the Russian blogosphere, the\u00a0law was quickly dubbed \u201cthe law of\u00a0scoundrels\u201d and\u00a0\u201cthe law of\u00a0King Herod.\u201d As television journalist Alexander Arkhangelsky wrote on\u00a0his LiveJournal blog: \u201cYou can argue about whether the\u00a0Magnitsky Act is good or bad. But you can\u2019t argue about whether or not our orphaned children should be adopted by\u00a0families that live in\u00a0the country that passed the\u00a0Magnitsky Act. Children are above political interests, sovereignty and\u00a0citizenship. Any response that uses these children leads to\u00a0dehumanization.\u201d<\/p>\n

The\u00a0reaction of\u00a0the country\u2019s liberals could be predicted, but it was surprising to\u00a0hear negative reactions from\u00a0people who never disagree with the\u00a0government. Even some members of\u00a0the Russian Orthodox Church\u2019s high clergy expressed criticism. On\u00a0the Web portal \u201cOrthodoxy and\u00a0the World,\u201d Bishop Panteleimon of\u00a0Smolensk and\u00a0Vyazemsk wrote: \u201cIt is unacceptable to\u00a0make decisions that affect children based on\u00a0political trends. All the\u00a0laws passed by\u00a0the government must be based on\u00a0the interests of\u00a0people. For\u00a0the sake of\u00a0people\u2019s interests, you can even sacrifice the\u00a0prestige of\u00a0the state.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even more surprising was the\u00a0opinion of\u00a0Kremlin-loyal television commentator Mikhail Leontyev, whose anti-Americanism on\u00a0a scale of\u00a0one to\u00a010 is a\u00a0solid 11. Nonetheless, Leontyev came out against the\u00a0law on\u00a0his Odnako blog. While not renouncing his standard anti-U.S. rhetoric, he reasonably noted that \u201cthere are certainly problems with American adoptions, but not with American adoption in\u00a0and of\u00a0itself. Through these adoptions, about 50,000 children have gotten the\u00a0help, care and\u00a0love that they couldn\u2019t have gotten in\u00a0their homeland.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although passage of\u00a0the law was formally motivated by\u00a0concern for\u00a0the health and\u00a0well-being of\u00a0adopted children, few deputies hid that their real goal was punishing the\u00a0U.S. Liberal Democratic Party Deputy Sergei Ivanov made this very clear in\u00a0his statement to\u00a0the protesters: \u201cWe have a\u00a0huge number of\u00a0ill-wishers abroad. With this law, we can stop their activities in\u00a0Russia.\u201d<\/p>\n

Just Russia Deputy Svetlana Goryacheva had an\u00a0even more exotic justification for\u00a0supporting the\u00a0law. According to\u00a0her theory, the\u00a0U.S. is using these children to\u00a0form an\u00a0army to\u00a0invade Russia. In\u00a0her speech in\u00a0the Duma on\u00a0Wednesday, Goryacheva said that \u201c60,000 children have been taken to\u00a0the U.S. from\u00a0Russia. And\u00a0if even one-tenth of\u00a0these orphans were used for\u00a0organ transplants or sexual pleasure, there will remain 50,000 who can be recruited for\u00a0war against Russia.\u201d Josef Stalin would have applauded that speech with loud cheers of\u00a0\u201cbravo!\u201d<\/p>\n

Indeed, the\u00a0Soviet government forbade foreign adoptions. They were first allowed during the\u00a0warming of\u00a0relations with the\u00a0U.S. during the\u00a0last years of\u00a0Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev\u2019s rule. It looks like Putin\u2019s time machine, set in\u00a0motion at\u00a0the start of\u00a0his third term, is returning the\u00a0country to\u00a0that era. In\u00a0the past year, inch by\u00a0inch, Putin has been rebuilding parts of\u00a0the iron curtain, creating obstacles to\u00a0free flow of\u00a0information and\u00a0personal contacts. On\u00a0the same day the\u00a0law on\u00a0adoptions was passed, the\u00a0Duma also ratified a\u00a0law prohibiting people with dual citizenship from\u00a0heading Russian nongovernmental organizations. It is widely believed that this measure was taken against two people: Lyudmila Alexeyeva, who heads the\u00a0Moscow Helsinki Group, and\u00a0Tatyana Lokshina, deputy director of\u00a0Human Rights Watch\u2019s Moscow office.<\/p>\n

Grigory Yavlinsky, a\u00a0leader of\u00a0the Yabloko party, wrote on\u00a0his LiveJournal blog: \u201cThis law not only is cruel but also speaks of\u00a0the Bolshevik nature and\u00a0Stalinist roots of\u00a0the Russian political system. This is capitalism with a\u00a0Stalinist face.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now the\u00a0only question is: How far back into\u00a0the dark days of\u00a0the Soviet Union will Putin\u2019s time machine lead the\u00a0country?<\/p>\n

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Victor Davidoff is a\u00a0Moscow-based writer and\u00a0journalist who follows the\u00a0Russian blogosphere in\u00a0his biweekly column.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Victor Davidoff   Published: December 26, 2012 (Issue # 1741)   After the\u00a0State Duma passed a\u00a0bill banning adoptions by\u00a0Americans, journalist Valery Panyushkin wrote on\u00a0Facebook, \u201cI know of\u00a0only two organizations in\u00a0the world that scare their enemies by\u00a0harming their own children: … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"yes","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[12,22],"class_list":["post-274","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles","tag-in-the-news","tag-russia"],"yoast_head":"\n