MOSCOW, March 22 - RAPSI. The United States has responded to seven of Russia's 19 requests for help on child abuse cases that concern US parents whose adopted Russian children died, Prosecutor General Yuri Chaika said during a Government Hour meeting in the State Duma on Friday.

The US authorities have provided a satisfactory response in only one case, he said.

The Prosecutor General's Office has set up a standing commission that includes US Department of Justice members to facilitate interaction with their US counterparts.
The group is working to obtain regular updates on Russian children adopted by US families.

"We have reached an agreement at a recent meeting that the US side will reconsider all requests and provide the required information in full," he said.

The abuse of Russian adoptees in the United States has received increasing attention in Russia since the US government passed the so-called Magnitsky Act. The act stipulates visa sanctions for Russians who are believed by senate members to have been involved in human rights violations.

Russia retaliated by adopting the Dima Yakovlev law, which came into force on Jan. 1 and bans the adoption of Russian children by US citizens.

Dima Yakovlev died in July 2008 when he was 21 months old after his adoptive father Michael Harrison left him in a locked car in a parking lot for nine hours.

Harrison was acquitted of involuntary manslaughter.

The ruling United Russia party said the bill commemorates all Russian children who have died or suffered due to neglect on the part of their US adoptive parents.