Adopted child seized on abuse claim

MOSCOW, June 6 (UPI) -- Russian authorities removed a newly adopted 3-year-old boy from his American parents after a woman called police to report the child was being abused.

The boy was placed in a children's home and prosecutors are considering whether to charge the couple with child abuse, The Moscow Times reported Monday.

The Moskovsky Komsomolets newspaper reported that the adoptive mother was seen grabbing the boy by the throat in a hotel restaurant in an attempt to keep him quiet. The newspaper published the names and photographs of the couple under the front-page headline "A Boy for Beating." Other national media quickly picked up the story.

The U.S. Embassy in Moscow accused police and prosecutors of failing to call in child welfare experts to help establish the true facts of the case.

The newspaper article "appeared intended to further inflame growing public hysteria over foreign adoptions," the embassy said in a statement.

"The unusual attention to and handling of this case by Russian authorities and the Russian press suggests that a double standard exists for Americans and other foreigners with respect to child welfare," the embassy said.

The embassy said the parents had left the country.