Russia opened 14 investigations into crimes against Russian children adopted by foreigners in the past two years, comparing with thousands of crimes have been committed against minors in Russia this year alone.

      Vladimir Markin said that in the first nine months of this year, Russian investigators launched inquiries into a total of 13,000 crimes committed against minors, including almost 400 murders and more than 3,200 sexual assaults.

      A total of 169 criminal acts involving adopted children in Russia have been registered in 2012 and 2013. Nearly half of such crimes were sex-related, he said.

      In comparison he said “a total of 14 criminal cases into attempts on the life or health of Russian children adopted by foreign nationals have been investigated in Russia in 2012 and 2013.”

      Russian officials banned adoptions by Americans in late 2012 in the so-called Dima Yakovlev law, named after a Russian toddler who died of heatstroke after his American adoptive father left him in a parked car for nine hours in 2008. In July 2013 Russian Government also banned same-sex couples from adopting Russian children.