Moscow slams US handling of death of Russian adoptee in Texas

Moscow Tuesday voiced dissatisfaction over U.S. authorities' decision not to prosecute a Texas couple whose adopted three-year-old Russian son died in January"Texan authorities' decision not to charge Shatto family raises serious questions (from our side). They want to persuade us that the boy inflicted fatal wounds by himself," said the Russian foreign ministry's envoy for human rights, democracy, supremacy of law Konstantin Dolgov.Bobby Bland, the district attorney in Ector County, Texas, said Monday that Alan and Laura Shatto, the foster parents of Maxim Kuzmin, the boy, would not be charged as no evidence was found against them.He said Maxim has hurt himself fatally while Laura Shatto was away for about 10 minutes.Dolgov reiterated Russia's demand for all documents concerning death of Maxim so that Moscow would be able to make its own conclusion about what had caused the tragedy."After that, we will decide our further steps," Dolgov said, adding Russia has been waiting for "adequate cooperation" from the U.S. and Texan authorities.Three-year-old Maxim died on Jan. 21, three months following his adoption from an orphanage in the Pskov region. This was the 20th death of Russian children in US foster families since 1996.Dolgov said Moscow expected its representatives would be granted access to Maxim's younger brother Kirill, who was adopted along with Kuzmin.Also Tuesday, Pavel Astakhov, Russian ombudsman for child rights, called the decision of Ector County attorney "upsetting.""The Texas prosecutors' position in the case of Maxim Kuzmin is upsetting, because they refused to scrutinize the circumstances of his death," Astakhov twitted in his microblog.He said the prosecutors' decision "contradicts the original information provided by the sheriff, the social services as well as statements from the adoptive father and doctors."Astakhov added that he would speak to Michael McFaul, the U.S. Ambassador to Moscow, to discuss cooperation between Russia and the U.S. over child issues.The conditions of the Russian children adopted to the U.S. families have become a hot issue in the end of 2012 when Russia passed and enacted the Dima Yakovlev Act, the so-called Anti-Magnitsky Act.The law bans U.S. citizens from adopting Russian orphans in a tit-for-tat response to the U.S. Magnitsky Act passed in December, 2012.The U.S. act introduced a blacklist of Russian officials allegedly linked to the death of Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky at a Russian prison in 2009.