Medvedev blasts U.S. couple for sending adopted child back to Russia

The boy, Artyom Savelyev, adopted in September and renamed Justin, flew in to Moscow on April 8 alone after being accompanied to the plane in the United States by his adoptive grandmother. He brought a note in which his adoptive mother said she will not take care of him any longer because he is "mentally unstable."

"It is a monstrous deed on the part of his adoptive parents, to take the kid and virtually throw him out with the airplane in the opposite direction... [It] is not only immoral but also against the law," Medvedev told ABC News.

The story has been widely covered by news media and caused fury in many people who pitied the boy. The activities of the U.S. adoption agency World Association for Children and Parents (WACAP) that assisted in the U.S. couple's adoption of Savelyev have been suspended in Russia.

"This child is mentally unstable. He is violent and has severe psychopathic issues," 33-year-old adoptive mother, Torry Hansen of Shelbyville, Tennessee, said in the note the boy brought to Russia.

The Russian foreign minister said Friday that Russia could freeze child adoptions by U.S. citizens until the countries sign an intergovernmental agreement on adoptions.

Sergei Lavrov told Rossiya 24 news channel that the agreement should include the conditions under which the Russian authorities can allow adoptions and the obligations of the adoptive parents; Kazinform cites RIA Novosti. See www.en.rian.ru for full version.