Moscow, Russia -- President Vladimir Putin has signed a bill banning Americans from adopting Russian children.

The bill is part of the country's increasingly confrontational stance with the West and has angered some Russians who argue it victimizes children to make a political point.

UNICEF estimates that there are about 740,000 children not in parental custody in Russia,.

The law also blocks dozens of Russian children now in the process of being adopted by American families from leaving the country. The U.S. is the biggest destination for adopted Russian children. More than 60,000 of them have been taken in by Americans over the past two decades.

It is retaliation for an American law that calls for sanctions against Russian officials deemed human rights violators.

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Associated Press