"We demand permission for Pavel Astakhov to visit the U.S. Ranch for Kids orphanage to inspect how Russian children live there," the ministry said Thursday in a statement on its Twitter account, referring to Russia's children's rights ombudsman.
The Ranch for Kids in Eureka, Mont., has become the latest lightning rod in a tense battle between the United States and Russia over intercountry adoptions. Russian officials have complained loudly about alleged abuses of Russian children at the hands of their adoptive American parents. Astakhav claims 19 Russian children have died in the custody of American parents over the past decade.
On its website, the Ranch for Kids describes itself as "a respite care home for adopted children who are experiencing difficulties in their families due to reactive attachment disorder, prenatal exposure to alcohol and drugs [or] struggling with adoption and post institutional issues."
Astakhov arrived unannounced at the gates of the Ranch for Kids last June with a Russian television camera crew in tow.
"We did not let them in," Joyce Sterkel, who heads the Ranch for Kids, told ABC News. "They came, and I politely declined their visit. I said this is not a good time. I understood that they were doing a publicity stunt."
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http://abcnews.go.com/International/russian-officials-entry-ranch-claim-us-parents-dump/story?id=17292132#.UGFUJI1mSKU
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