Russia debates banning US adoption of Russian children

MOSCOW (AP) -- Russia's parliament is getting ready to debate a measure that would ban adoption of Russian children by Americans. It's the latest move in a dispute with Washington over human rights legislation.

Last week, President Barack Obama signed into law a bill imposing sanctions on Russians who are found to be connected with human rights abuses.

A retaliatory measure passed its first reading in the Russian Duma last week. It calls for establishing a blacklist of Americans judged to have violated the human rights of Russians. Officials say that would include those who abuse children adopted from Russia. An amendment to be considered in tomorrow's second reading calls for an outright ban on adoptions of Russian children by Americans.

In July, the Duma ratified an agreement regulating adoptions that was aimed at addressing concerns raised by the 2010 case of an American woman who sent a 7-year-old Russian boy she had adopted back to Russia.