On July 28, 2012, President Putin signed into law the bilateral adoption agreement.  The Agreement, which was signed in 2011 by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, aims to improve the intercountry adoption process and better protect adoptive children, birth parents, and adoptive parents.  The Russian Duma approved the Agreement on July 10, 2012, and the Federation Council, the upper house of the Russian Parliament, approved the Agreement on July 18, 2012. 

The United States and Russia will now work as expeditiously as possible to establish procedures to implement the Agreement.  Following the establishment of these procedures, the Agreement will enter into force upon the exchange of diplomatic notes from the U.S. and Russian governments.  The exchange of notes will take place only after both sides have completed internal procedures necessary for entry into force.

The Agreement will provide additional safeguards to better protect the welfare and interests of children and all parties involved in intercountry adoptions.  To find out more about the agreement, please visit the Department of State's FAQs and the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) FAQs on the agreement and its implementation.  Please also monitor adoption.state.gov and uscis.gov for updated information as it becomes available.