Russia, April 15, 20010:

During a press conference today, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko stated that intercountry adoptions with the United States have been suspended until a bilateral agreement with the United States is signed.

At this time, the Ministry of Education (the ministry responsible for intercountry adoption) has not confirmed the suspension nor issued a statement. The MoE MUST confirm this statement for the suspension to be truly active.

A delegation from the U.S. Department of State, lead by Ambassador Michael Kirby, will travel to Moscow and conduct meetings with Russian officials on April 20, 2010.