A year ago, on the dreadful day of 28 December 2012, President Putin signed the so called ‘Dima Yakovlev Law’ which put a ban for any adoption of Russian orphans to the USA – including about 300 children who were totally ready for adoption, among them about 50 of strongly disabled kids. Most of these children, especially disabled ones, still stay in Russian children institutions – instead of receiving love, care and special medical treatment which waited for them in American families.

“Still, are we human beings or beasts?” – said I at the plenary session of the Civic Chamber of Russia on 20 December2013, - “Adoption of a child with a disability - it is always a miracle, unbelievable fortune . And any restrictions in it are immoral . I ask President of Russia Vladimir Putin to initiate legislation that excludes disabled children from the Dima Yakovlev Law.” (See Abstract and references below).

And I urgently ask President Obama to address President Putin with this request!

In the same Talk in Civic Chamber on 20 December I also outlined the unbelievable situation which deserves to be a Symbol of Olympic Games in Sochi in February 2014. – During 5 years 4-children family of Ermakova-Braiko (mother: Anna Ermakova – cell: +7-962-890-24-28 – on her permission) lives in the garage. 5 years ago this socially and morally positive family sold its two rooms because of the urgent need of money to save the father of the family from deadly disease. And they failed to purchase a smaller dwelling because of the cosmic raise in prices when future Olympic Games – 2014 in Sochi were announced. Thus they lost dwelling and (which is even more terrible in Russia) – parents and children lost their permanent residence registration (propiska). They joined 4-million Army of Russian citizens who are socially excluded because of absence of propiska. And any appeals to federal or local levels, including Governor of Krasnodar Krai Tkachev and Mayor of Sochi Pakhomov, were ignored.

 
Thus the picture of GARAGE, where the family lives against the background of Olympic venues which construction cost hundreds of millions of dollars truly is a symbol of future Olympic Games and also of modern super corrupt and non-democratic Russia where vitally needed interests of population mean nothing to the authorities.

ADDENDUM. 
Four points of the speech in Civic Chamber of Russia on 20 December 2013:
1. Sochi: Anna Ermakova’s family with four children living in the garage for five years - as a Symbol of the Olympic Games in Russia in February 2014.
2. Are we Human Beings or Beasts? About disabled orphans and Dima Yakovlev Law.
3. Russia is the only country in the world where public councils designed to control the authorities are formed by the authorities themselves.
4. And one more Russia’s paradox: anti-corruption bodies of police or FSB are subordinate to those whose corruption they must reveal.

http://right-child.ru/94-sohi.html
http://echo.msk.ru/blog/baltshuler/1223723-echo/
http://www.hro.org/node/18356.
http://www.oprf.ru/press/news/2013/newsitem/23521