Putin signs US adoption ban into law amid vehement criticism

President Vladimir Putin signed into law on Friday a controversial bill that imposes a ban on adoption of Russian children by Americans and other retaliatory measures targeting the United States, RIA Novosti reports.

Despite protests from liberal-minded bloggers and civic groups, as well as some top officials in the Russian government, the ban on American adoptions will come into force on January 1, 2013.

The ban is part of Russia’s tit-for-tat response to the US Magnitsky Act, which was signed into law by US President Barack Obama earlier this month. The act introduces sanctions against Russian officials suspected of human rights abuses and is named after Sergei Magnitsky, a whistleblowing lawyer who died in a Moscow pre-trial detention center in 2009.