Putin signs anti-US adoption law: Kremlin

MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday signed into law controversial parliamentary legislation banning the adoption of Russian children by American families, the Kremlin said.

The law -- retaliation for a US law punishing Russian officials implicated in the 2009 prison death of lawyer Sergei Magnitsky -- will come into force on January 1, the Kremlin said.

A powerful Kremlin adviser said that 52 Russian children set for US adoption should go to Russian parents following President Vladimir Putin's signature of a tough new anti-US law.

"There are 52 children" whose adoption is currently pending, Putin's children's rights envoy Pavel Astakhov told Interfax. "I believe they should be adopted in Russia."