MOSCOW, January 23 - RAPSI. Russian children whose adoptions were approved by the courts before January 1, 2013, must go to their adoptive parents in the United States, as ruled by the Russian Supreme Court.

"Children whose adoptions by US nationals were approved by courts before January 1, 2013, and have come into force, including after January 1, 2013, must be turned over to their adoptive parents," reads the Supreme Court's statement posted on its website on Tuesday.

In accordance with Clause 3 of Article 125 of the Russian Family Code and Part 2 of Article 274 of the Civil Procedure Code, the rights and duties of the adoptive families become effective as of the day the court approval of the adoption comes into force, reads the Supreme Court decision signed by its deputy chairman, Vasily Nechayev.

The bill that bans the US adoption of Russian children was approved in response to the Magnitsky Act and came into force on January 1. It was unofficially named in memory of Dima Yakovlev, the two-year-old Russian boy who died after his US adoptive father left him in the car for nine hours, as well as in memory of all Russian children who were killed or abused by their adoptive families in the US.