Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Kazakhstan

Russia Says Child-Trafficking Network Dismantled

Child in an orphanage in Vladimir, some 400 kilometers from Moscow (file photo) (AFP)

24 January 2006 -- The Russian Prosecutor-General's Office says it has dismantled an international criminal ring involved in child trafficking.

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January 24, 2006

Deputy Prosecutor-General Sergei Fridinsky said the network had been collecting confidential information on Russian, Kazakh, and Ukrainian children and selling it on to adoption agencies.

Fridinsky said the network was run by a California-based organization called Yunona, whose offices in Russia have been searched.

State television reports that several arrests have been made in Russia.

Fridinsky said U.S. security agencies helped Russian investigators dismantle the network, but provided no further details.

Citing alleged buses of adopted children, many Russian lawmakers are demanding restrictions on international adoptions.

(Interfax, Vesti, lenta.ru)

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