In Like a Lion, Out Like a Lamb

For the better part of the last year, I have been following the progress of a State Duma bill designed to amend the Russian Family Code so that adoptions of Russian children to foreign parents would be prevented if those parents' countries did not enact a bilateral adoption agreement with Russia. That bill, State Duma Bill No. 364094-5 (About Amendments to Article 124 and 165 of the Family Code of the Russian Federation), was originally proposed in the wake of the Justin Hansen / Artyom Savaliev scandal almost a year ago.

At the time, I wrote on this blog that I thought the bill was introduced as a means to back up the threats of the Russian authorities to suspend adoptions to Americans unless they concluded a bilateral agreement with Russia. That assertion appears to have been true; the bill languished in committee for a while, and was repeatedly scheduled for a first vote in the State Duma during 2010 and into January of this year. Each time the bill approached a vote, the State Duma rescheduled it. Most recently, the bill was scheduled for a vote in late January, but it was tabled again by one of the State Duma members. Since then, we have heard nothing.

Meanwhile, the Russian authorities have continued to push for a bilateral adoption agreement with the United States of America and other countries, including France. Throughout the last year, the Russian and American negotiating teams have managed to hammer out an agreement that is now reportedly undergoing detailed legal review in both countries. So, it appears that negotiations over major points of interest have been concluded, even though the agreement has not yet been signed or entered force.

Interestingly, and perhaps not coincidentally, the State Duma Bill's official record was updated recently to indicate that the bill has been withdrawn from consideration at the request of its sponsor, the Republic of Bashkortostan, which is one of Russia's 80+ regions. This means that the bill is now officially inactive; it will not be scheduled for any further votes. It is no longer a threat.

The Russian-American bilateral adoption agreement, however, is still in process. Just this week, the Russian ombudsman for Children's Rights, Pavel Astakhov, indicated in a Russian-language interview that the agreement may be signed as early as the beginning of May.