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Shouting "shame on the scum," protesters carried posters of President Vladimir Putin and members of Russia's parliament who overwhelmingly voted for the law last month. Up to 20,000 took part in the demonstration on a frigid, gray afternoon. The adoption ban has stoked the anger of the same middle-class, urban professionals who swelled the protest ranks last winter, when more than 100,000 people turned out for rallies to demand free elections and an end to Putin's 12 years in power. Since Putin began a third presidential term in May, the protests have flagged as the opposition leaders have struggled to provide direction and capitalize on the broad discontent.
Opponents of the adoption ban argue it victimizes children to make a political point. Eager to take advantage of this anger, the anti-Kremlin opposition has played the ban as further evidence that Putin and his parliament have lost the moral right to rule Russia. The Kremlin, however, has used the adoption controversy to further its efforts to discredit the opposition as unpatriotic and in the pay of the Americans.
Sunday's march may prove only a blip on what promises to be a long road for the protest movement, especially in the face of Kremlin efforts to stifle dissent. But it was a reunion of what has become known as Moscow's creative class, whose sarcastic wit was once again on display on Sunday. "Parliament deputies to orphanages, Putin to an old people's home," read one poster. Another showed Putin with the words "For a Russia without Herod." Putin's critics have likened him to King Herod, who ruled at the time of Jesus Christ's birth and who the Bible says ordered the massacre of Jewish children to avoid being supplanted by the newborn king of the Jews.
Russia's adoption ban was retaliation for a new U.S. law targeting Russians accused of human rights abuses. It also addresses long-brewing resentment in Russia over the 60,000 Russian children who have been adopted by Americans in the past two decades, 19 of whom have died. Cases of Russian children dying or suffering abuse at the hands of their American adoptive parents have been widely publicized in Russia, and the law banning adoptions was called the Dima Yakovlev bill after a toddler who died in 2008 when he was left in a car for hours in broiling heat. "Yes, there are cases when they are abused and killed, but they are rare," said Sergei Udaltsov, who heads a leftist opposition group. "Concrete measures should be taken (to punish those responsible), but our government decided to act differently and sacrifice children's fates for its political ambitions."
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Max Shatto - whose Russian name is Maxim Kuzmin - died on 21 January. Texas officials say they are still investigating the death, and no arrests have been made. The case comes at a sensitive time, with Russia having just banned US adoptions because of previous deaths. Russian officials have alleged the child suffered "inhuman abuse". Russia's equivalent of the FBI, the Investigative Committee, has opened a murder investigation and says it will ensure that the "murderers of the Russian child are severely punished". Max Shatto and his younger brother Kristopher were adopted from an orphanage in north-west Russia last year by Alan and Laura Shatto, who live in Gardendale, Texas.
He died on 21 January, less than two weeks after his third birthday. "I would like to draw your attention to another case of inhuman abuse of a Russian child by US adoptive parents," Konstantin Dolgov, the Russian Foreign Ministry's special representative for human rights, said in a statement. Mr Dolgov said the child had suffered injuries that "could only be caused by strong blows", and alleged that the boy's adoptive parents had given him a strong anti-psychotic drug mainly used to treat schizophrenic adults. Texas Child Protection Services confirmed it had received allegations of physical abuse and neglect and was investigating, but had not yet determined whether the allegations were true.
'Singing with the angels'
The Ector County Sheriff's Office is also investigating, but says it is awaiting autopsy results. The US state department said it would help Russian officials make contact with the appropriate authorities in Texas, and that it "took very seriously the welfare of children, particularly children who have been adopted from other countries".
Max's adoptive parents have said they will not comment. A tribute to Max was published on the website of a funeral home which handled arrangements for his funeral: "Max, you were not with us long enough to leave fingerprints on the walls but you left fingerprints upon our hearts. When we get to Heaven, we know we will hear your sweet voice singing with the angels. We love you and will always miss you." The boy's death came just three weeks after the Russian parliament, the Duma, enacted legislation ending all adoptions of Russian orphans by Americans. The move was criticised by the United States and by the opposition in Moscow. Russian politicians have been quick to seize on Max Shatto's death as a clear justification for their hardline stance, says the BBC's Daniel Sandford in Moscow.
BBC News - Russia investigates 'murder' of Max Shatto, US adoptee
State and local authorities are proceeding with an investigation into the death of three-year-old Max Shatto on January 21 in Odessa, Texas, but they still have no determination of cause and have not made any arrests. Ector County Sheriff's Department Sergeant Gary Duesler says several local agencies became involved in the case very quickly. “The Medical Examiners office and, of course, our office is involved in it, Child Protective Services because it did not look like a natural death to us," said Duesler. "So we sent the body off for an autopsy in Tarrant County and we are currently waiting for the results to come back on that.”
Duesler says Odessa is too small to have its own autopsy facility so such cases are often handled by a hospital in a larger city like Dallas. He says investigators have spoken to the family, but have not filed any charges yet. “We are starting to try to put the pieces of the puzzle together. It is an ongoing investigation and we are basically in limbo until we get results back from the autopsy," he said. Duesler says the sheriff's department is in contact with the Russian embassy in Washington and with US Senator Mary Landrieu of Louisiana. Senator Landrieu recently headed a group of ten US senators at a meeting with officials at the Russian embassy about the ban on US adoptions Russia imposed late last year.
At the US State Department Tuesday, spokeswoman Victoria Nuland described the death of Max Shatto as a tragedy and said US officials are keeping in touch with both the Russian embassy and the Russian consulate in Houston. But Nuland cautioned that it is still too early to say what happened to the adopted boy. “Nobody should jump to any conclusions about how this child died until Texas authorities have had a chance to investigate," said Nuland.
The death of the boy in west Texas has aroused Russian critics of US child adoptions who say not enough is being done to protect adopted children from abusive or negligent parents. Russian officials expressed outrage in 2008 when an adopted toddler named Dima Yakovlev died in Virginia after being left alone in a closed car in intense heat. Max Shatto, whose birth name was Maxim Kuzmin, came from the same orphanage in Russia. Texas officials say his two-year-old brother remains in the home of the adoptive parents, Alan and Laura Shatto, while the investigation proceeds.
http://www.voanews.com/content/tgex...e-death-of-adopted-russian-child/1606928.html
The "reset" was knocked badly off course by disagreements over the conflicts in Libya and Syria. Then, during last year's protests, Russia accused America of interfering in its domestic politics. This ended with USAID being kicked out the country. December's Sergei Magnitsky Act that allows Russian officials to be excluded from the US on human rights grounds only made things worse, and Moscow's response was to end all adoptions of Russian children by American parents. Then last week, just seven weeks after that controversial ban was enacted came the tragic news of the death of Max Shatto, previously known as Maksim Kuzmin.
The three-year-old boy and his two-year-old brother Kristopher Shatto (previously known as Kirill Kuzmin) had only arrived in the US in October to live with their new parents Laura and Alan Shatto. But on 21 January, Max Shatto was rushed to hospital where he was pronounced dead. How he died is not yet clear. Sondra Woolf, an investigator at the Ector County Medical Examiner said: "There was some bruising just in various places. Whether they had anything to do with his cause of death we don't know. We won't know until we get the autopsy report back."
Max Shatto (l), seen here with his brother Kristopher, died barely three months after arriving in the US
Media firestorm
But the Russian reaction was very different. The Children's Commissioner Pavel Astakhov broke the news on Twitter. "An adoptive mother has killed a three-year-old Russian child in the state of Texas. The murder occurred at the end of January," he wrote. That unleashed a firestorm in the Russian media and the parliament, the Duma. Deputies lined up to use Max Shatto's death to justify the ban on US adoptions of Russian children. "Why should we send our children to certain death?" asked Svetlana Orlova, the deputy chair of the Russian upper chamber, the Federation Council.
But at the children's home that Maksim Kuzmin was adopted from, we found a very different reaction. "The ban on American adoptions will mostly hit children with serious health problems," the chief doctor, Natalia Vishnevskaya, said. "Russian adoptive parents are afraid of taking these kinds of children. And in our children's home there are practically no kids who are absolutely healthy." The Pechory Baby Home has seen a similar tragedy before. Dima Yakovlev - a 21-month-old toddler who had left the home only a few months earlier - died of heatstroke after being accidentally left in a car by his adoptive father in Virginia. But still Natalia Vishnevskaya is in favour of US adoptions. "These tragic events should not prevent our children from being adopted to any country," she said, "and let me stress any country."
'Sensational exploitations'
The death in Texas of an adopted three-year-old Russian boy has been ruled an accident, reports quoting US officials say amid ongoing tensions over the case between the US and Moscow. Max Shatto died accidentally after he hit himself and tore an artery, media citing a coroner's report said. The child died in January. He was adopted from a Russian orphanage. Russian parliamentarians have regularly used the death to justify a recent ban on adoptions to America. A senior Russian official, Pavel Astakhov, sparked controversy last month by alleging that the boy, born Maxim Kuzmin, was murdered by his adoptive parents.
But four doctors who reviewed the autopsy results said the adoptive parents of Max Shatto had done nothing wrong, CBS 7 news reported. The medical examiner in Ector County, Texas said Max's death was not intentional, according to Sheriff Mark Donaldson and prosecutor Bobby Bland. Autopsy results showed that bruises on several parts of the boy's body were self-inflicted and it was reported that the child had a mental disorder which had caused him to hurt himself. "I had four doctors agree that this is the result of an accident," Mr Bland said. "We have to take that as fact."
However, the investigation over what happened is still continuing, officials added. The prosecutor said that he would see whether to pursue charges such as negligent supervision or injury to a child by omission, after the full results of the investigation were available. The boy was reportedly found unresponsive outside the family home in Gardendale, Texas on 21 January. He had been adopted, along with his half-brother Kristopher, last autumn.
The boy's death came just three weeks after the Russian parliament, the Duma, enacted legislation ending all adoptions of Russian orphans by Americans - a move criticised by the US and by the opposition in Moscow. The adoption ban has been viewed as retaliation for a law passed in the US that would stop Russian officials suspected of human right violations from coming to the US. Russian authorities have said they are pursuing their own investigation into the death.
BBC News - Max Shatto Russia-US adoption death ruled an accident
Prosecutors in Texas say they will not charge a couple whose adopted Russian son's death was ruled an accident. Max Shatto, adopted from a Russian orphanage, died age 3 in January, soon after Russia banned all US adoptions. A grand jury had found insufficient evidence to charge Alan and Laura Shatto, a prosecutor said. The case sparked outrage in Russia, where authorities have launched their own investigation and demanded the Shattos face charges. Texas doctors who examined the boy ruled his death had been an accident and that bruises on his body were self-inflicted.
According to preliminary results of a post-mortem examination released this month, the child died accidentally from a torn artery in his abdomen and had bruises consistent with injuring himself. No drugs or medicines had been found in his body and the coroner said he had had a mental disorder that caused him to hurt himself. Earlier this month, more than 10,000 people marched in Moscow to demanded a halt to all foreign adoptions of Russian children. Max Shatto, born Maksim Kuzmin, and his younger brother Kristopher were adopted from an orphanage in north-west Russia last year by the Shattos, who live in Gardendale, Texas.
Murder allegation
Laura Shatto said she had found him unconscious outside the family's home and he died later in hospital. When he died, Russia's children's commissioner Pavel Astakhov alleged he had been murdered by his adoptive mother. But the Shattos' lawyer said the toddler had suffered from behavioural issues and occasionally butted his head on objects or other people.
Kristopher still lives with the Shattos. In December, the Russian government banned adoptions of Russian orphans by Americans. Correspondents say Russia did so in retaliation for the US passing a law allowing Russian officials suspected of human rights abuses to be banned from the US.
BBC News - Max Shatto: Texas prosecutor declines charges in death
Fertility Decline and Recent Changes in Russia
It was in late 1991 that, for the first time in the postwar history of the Russian population, the number of deaths exceeded that of births. In 1992 the negative natural change amounted to 219,800, or 1.5 per 1,000. An even greater decrease was recorded in 1993, with a 750,300 natural decrease in population, or 5.1 per 1,000. This natural decrease was larger than the positive change due to net immigration and resulted in a total population decrease by 30,900 in 1992 and by 307,600 in 1993.
Russia has entered the stage of negative population change.
Fertility Decline and Recent Changes in Russia: On the Threshold of the Second Demographic Transition | RAND
The allegations by Alexander Abnosov, who was adopted around five years ago and is now 18, will likely fuel outrage here over the fate of Russian children adopted by Americans. It's an anger that the Kremlin has carefully stoked in recent months to justify its controversial ban on U.S. adoptions. Russia's Channel 1 and Rossiya television - which are both state controlled - reported Tuesday that Abnosov returned from a Philadelphia suburb to the Volga river city of Cheboksary, where his 72-year-old grandmother lives. Russian media identified the teen as Alexander Abnosov, but also show him displaying a U.S. passport that gives his name as Joshua Alexander Salotti.
Abnosov, who spoke in a soft voice and appeared somewhat restrained, complained to Rossiya that his adoptive mother was "nagging at small things." "She would make any small problem big," he said on Channel 1. He also told Channel 1 that he fled home because of the conflicts with his adoptive mother, staying on the streets for about three months and stealing. "I was stealing stuff and sold them to get some food," he said with a shy smile.
According to the daily Komsomolskaya Pravda, Abnosov says that his parents visited him while he stayed in a shelter in Philadelphia, but that they didn't ask him to come home as he'd expected. Channel 1 said his adoptive father gave him $500 to buy a ticket to Russia, though it wasn't clear when he arrived here. The newspaper said it reached Abnosov's adoptive mother, who denied driving him away. She was quoted as saying he was asked to come home, but said he wanted to return to Russia where he has relatives to care for. The teen's adoptive parents - identified in the media reports as Steve and Jackie Salotti - could not immediately be reached Tuesday. A woman who identified herself as a relative at the couple's home in Collegeville, Pennsylvania, said the parents weren't there and did not want to discuss the case.
Abnosov's story was top news on Russian state television, which tried to cast it as an example of the alleged misfortunes that befall Russian children adopted by U.S. parents. The Russian government in December banned all American adoptions of Russian children in retaliation for a new U.S. law targeting alleged Russian human-rights violators. Some 60,000 children have been adopted by Americans in the past two decades, and many Russians disagree with the ban, seeing it as a politically driven move depriving children of a chance to have a family.
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