A crippled orphan could die because Russia’s adoption ban blocked an American couple from taking him home to Tennessee for life-saving surgery.
The controversial ban — which was championed by Russian President Vladimir Putin — forbids adoptions to America.
Shana and Ron Pardue were about to adopt Ivan, a four-year-old who was born with a rare cranial condition called Apert syndrome, when the ban was passed.
Without surgery before the age of five, his skull will slowly crush his brain.
Ivan, who was abandoned by his biological mother, still hasn’t had the operation.
“Time is fast running out,” said Shana,
“He should have had the operation a long time ago. As he grows, the danger is that his skull will cause permanent damage to his brain or kill him.
“All our efforts to adopt him and bring him home for surgery hit a brick wall once the ban came into force.”
The ban was retaliation for a 2012 American law that prohibits Russian officials accused of violating human rights from entering the United States.