U.S. says notified Russia of suspected orphan abuse

U.S. authorities have informed the Russian side about suspected abuse of a seven-year-old boy by his adoptive U.S. mother, a high-ranking State Department source told RIA Novosti.

Jessica Bigley from Anchorage, Alaska, revealed to a talk show last month her methods of raising her seven-year-old adopted son, Daniil Bukharov (aka Christoph Bigley), including pouring cold water over him and forcing him to rinse his mouth with hot pepper sauce. The state's authorities opened a child abuse case earlier this month.

The State Department source said the U.S. adoption agency notified Russian consulate general in Seattle and the Russian education ministry.

The Russian consulate general in Seattle said its diplomat had already arrived in Anchorage to "look into the situation in details."

Authorities in the Far Eastern Russian city of Magadan, from where Daniil Bukharov and his twin brother were adopted, earlier said they received three reports saying that the children were adapting perfectly to the new family.

Russia is one of the largest sources of adoptions for U.S. families, accounting for about 10 percent of foreign adoptions. The mistreatment of Russian children adopted in the United States has attracted public attention last year as a result of several highly publicized incidents.

Russia threatened to prohibit child adoptions by U.S. citizens until the countries sign an intergovernmental agreement guaranteeing the rights of adopted children.