Question: What is the situation with the so-called internet exchanges in the USA through which adopted children, including Russian ones, were illegally transferred?

Answer: Despite appeals from the Investigative Committee of Russia and numerous calls from the Russian Foreign Ministry, the US authorities did not launch a single investigation into the illegal trafficking of under-age Russians through so-called internet exchanges, which became known over a year ago owing to a Reuters journalistic investigative report.

We really had information from the shocking investigation by Reuters correspondents that at least 26 Russian children previously adopted by American citizens could have become victims of an electronic exchange, whose participants where in fact marketing orphans and transferring their adopted children to each other as old toys.

The objects of those cynical "internet exchanges" were mostly children of foreign origin (70 percent of the victims) as attempts were made to get rid of them under different pretexts. This illegal practice was concealed from the US authorities.

We demand that the US side approach this lingering problem with utmost commitment and responsibility. All the circumstances, especially taking into account reports that in some cases the children came into the hands of pedophiles for producing pornographic materials, should be properly investigated, and the guilty persons should be brought to account.

On our part, we confirm our readiness to render immediate consulate help via the Russian Embassy and General Consulates in the USA to Russians who fell victim to such exchanges.