On a talk show on Russian radio, Vladimir Sungorkin, the chief-editor of the oldest youth newspaper, Komsomolskaya Pravda, said that he had been investigating the Russian process of adopting orphans.
Russians rarely adopt orphans, he said, because the “powerful bureaucracy created such obstacles that Russian citizens need to go through all circles of hell.”
In comparison he said, American adoption of Russian orphans had traditionally been easy and mercenary as children were being “sold to Americans cheerfully and effortlessly” until Russia stopped the adoptions in 2012.
According to the Russian government’s requirements, the adoption process for American parents took a minimum of eight months to fulfill the base requirements, including the need for various documents such as the potential parent's medical records.
U.S. citizens also needed American government approval, which was a very complicated process.
After the U.S. banned Russians who were involved in human rights violations from entering the country, Russian President Vladimir Putin retaliated by signing a decree in 2012 banning the adoption of the Russian orphans by U.S. parents. Russian adoptions by Americans dropped from a high of 5,682 in 2004 to zero.