Education and Science Minister Andrei Fursenko said the adoption of Russian children by U.S. parents has not been suspended despite a Foreign Ministry statement about a freeze after a Tennessee mother returned her 7-year-old son alone on a plane to Russia last month, RIA-Novosti reported Wednesday.

“Adoptions can be frozen only by a special State Duma bill or a presidential decree,” said Fursenko, whose ministry oversees child adoptions. “As far as I know, neither the president nor the State Duma has raised the issue.”

The Foreign Ministry said last month that adoptions would be halted until U.S. and Russian officials hammered out a treaty that better protected the rights of adopted children. Initial talks on the treaty were held at the Foreign Ministry last Thursday, and the next round is scheduled for May 12.

(MT)