Russian President Vladimir Putin said Saturday that Russian orphans should be adopted in their homeland.

"We must do all we can so that orphaned children find their foster families in their home country, in Russia," Putin said at a Congress of Parents of Russia, where the Parents' All-Russian Resistance organization was established.

Russia's legislature passed a law last year that banned adoption of Russian children by Americans, starting Jan. 1 this year.

Putin promised support for the new body. "Here, we are ready for most close partnership and cooperation," the Interfax news agency quoted him as saying.

Putin noted that the number of Russian citizens wishing to adopt orphans, including sick ones, was growing. "Therefore, it would be important to simplify the adoption procedures, and grant tax breaks to adopters."

He also proposed an increase of the allowances paid to people adopting a child.

"All these should serve as real support to our citizens willing to take a child from an orphanage to their family," Putin said. Endite

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