Distinction in travel journalism
Is independent travel journalism important to you?
Click here to keep it independent

2 Oct, 2014

Russia cancels FLEX student exchange with the US | DW.DE

The Russian government decided on Wednesday to ditch a 20 year-old exchange that sent Russian high school students to the US amid escalating tensions between the former Cold War enemies. According to a report in the AFP news agency, the Kremlin accused the US of encouraging a student to stay behind under the guardianship of a gay couple and therefore bypassing a Russian law banning adoption by gay parents.

“The child, who has a mother in Russia, has illegally been placed under guardianship, and the boy has been handed over to a US gay couple,” Russia’s children’s ombudsman Pavel Astakhov said. Astakhov added that the boy was from a good background and was perfectly healthy, saying he could therefore see no arguments against him returning to his homeland.

Read the rest: Russia cancels FLEX student exchange with the US | News | DW.DE | 01.10.2014.