Moscow demands from the United States a thorough investigation into the case a U.S. man accused of raping his foster daughter from Russia, spokesman for the Russian Foreign Ministry Alexander Lukashevich said on Thursday.
Michael Gismore from the state of Georgia was arrested in 2010 on charges of regularly raping the Russian adoptee, Ksenia, but the U.S. Department of State notified the Russian Consulate General of the case only in June of this year.
“We demand that the U.S. authorities hold an all-embracing and thorough investigation into the assault of Ksenia and hand down a just verdict to the guilty party,” Lukashevich said.
Gismore’s lawyers claim that Ksenia was 16 years old, when their client had sexual intercourse with her. In line with the laws of Georgia, 16 is the legal age of consent and Gismore says his sexual relations with Ksenia were consensual.
The Federal Migration Service in Russia’s Kemerovo region, where Ksenia comes from, says however that, according to their documents, the girl was born on October 26, 1994, and was 15 years old at the time of the sexual assaults.
Lukashevich said that the girl is currently at a children’s orphanage in Georgia, where she is receiving physical and psychological treatment. The Russian Foreign Ministry and the Russian Embassy in the United States are keeping a close eye on the situation.
The diplomat added that “such a blasphemous and outrageous case calls again for the immediate conclusion of an agreement with the United States on cooperation in international adoptions.”
The United States and Russia have been negotiating an agreement on the safety of Russian children adopted by U.S. families since 2010.
Russia suspended adoptions last year after a Tennessee woman sent her 7-year-old adoptive son back to Russia. He was put on a plane on his own with a note from the woman saying she did not want him as he was “psychotic.”
Russia’s ombudsman for children’s rights Pavel Astakhov said earlier in the year that 17 Russian children have died in the United States as a result of child abuse since adoptions began more than 15 years ago.
The latest official figures show that about 60,000 children born in Russia have been adopted by families in the United States.