April 19th, 2010
07:24 AM ET

Volcanic ash delays U.S., Russia adoptions meeting

A NASA satellite image shows the volcanic ash cloud from space.

Volcanic ash from Iceland prevented U.S. officials from flying  to Moscow on Monday for meetings on U.S. adoptions of Russian children.

"From what I understand it's all because of the volcano," a U.S. official said.

Moscow has sent mixed signals on adoptions recently, following the uproar over a Tennessee woman sending back a 7-year-old Russian boy she had adopted.

A Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman announced Thursday that Moscow had put an end to the adoption of children by American families until rules covering them can be hashed out with U.S. officials.

"Further adoptions of Russian children by the American citizens, which at present has been suspended, will only be possible in case such an agreement is reached," said the spokesman, Andrei Nesterenko.

But Russian Ambassador to the U.S. Sergey Kislyak appeared to soften that line on Saturday. Asked whether adoptions by Americans are currently frozen, he said that "adoption is a process by each and every kid and it takes time. So we'll see how things will develop."

"We're insisting on freezing this unless we have a legal framework negotiated with the United States that provides protection for the people," Kislyak said.

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Filed under: Russia • U.S. • World
soundoff (6 Responses)
  1. Jen

    Not to sound naive but aside from those nations in the immediate vicinity of the cloud, I don't understand why the rest of Europe or the world is going nuts over it. Sure, it's a phenomenon, how often does something like this happen? However, to delay a meeting in Russia because of it is ridiculous! There are no other plane routes from the US to Moscow to avoid flying over, through, or near the volcanic ash? I find that hard to believe. It would take longer to get there and back but at least the meeting would occur.

    April 19, 2010 at 7:39 am | Report abuse |
  2. Veronika

    @Jen: Its because the wind blows the ash clouds east over Europe and into Asia. Thats why the airspace is blocked.
    A US-military jet that flew over Germany yesterday had glass build up in the engine after landing, that happens when the engine sucks in ash and the heat melts it to glass. The glass can then destroy the engine and the plane crashes.
    That's the reason why all flights are grounded. It's just a very high safety risk.

    April 19, 2010 at 10:15 am | Report abuse |
  3. ro

    Really Jen. Think about where the hubs are and where connections come and go from. And then think of how jammed all alternate routes are.

    April 19, 2010 at 10:21 am | Report abuse |
  4. guest

    Why are we spending tax dollars on this? Let Russia keep , and pay for, its OWN mentallly unstable orphans. They all have fetal alcohol sydrome. Look at the statistics - 58 out 100 Russian adoptees suffer from this condition.

    April 19, 2010 at 10:23 am | Report abuse |
  5. floda

    I hope this issue is resolved quickly. I am awaing a grandaughter from Russia. This
    July the process will be in progress for two years.

    April 19, 2010 at 10:51 am | Report abuse |
  6. Olga H

    Why are we adopting Russian babies, but encourage our young American women to abort theirs?

    April 19, 2010 at 1:43 pm | Report abuse |
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