MOSCOW, July 4 - RAPSI. Children's Rights Commissioner Pavel Astakhov hopes the adoption treaty between Russia and the United States will be ratified on July 6, he told RIA Novosti on Wednesday.

Astakhov added that the ratified document will have a retroactive effect if necessary.

The document was signed between Moscow and Washington on July 13, 2011. It toughens the requirements for foreign foster parents. The State Duma is expected to ratify the treaty on July 6, 2012.

The agreement defines the order for adopting children and establishes the mechanism for controlling the living conditions and upbringing of foster kids. It also stresses that giving a child up for adoption to another state will only be considered if it is impossible to find an appropriate family for the child in his home country.

The document also defines the order for adopted children to receive foreign citizenship and maintain their original citizenship.

Same sex couples will not be able to adopt children upon Moscow's strong request.

The development of the treaty between the two states was provoked by a U.S. foster mother who sent her seven-year-old adopted son back to Russia alone on a plane.