MOSCOW, April 12 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's justice minister said Wednesday that his ministry was looking to tighten up control over adoption of Russian children by foreigners.

Yury Chaika said Russia's adoption system was not properly coordinated and that there had been many problems in cases of adoption by people outside the country.

"The media has recently given a lot of coverage to proposals to stop adoption of Russian children by foreign citizens," Yury Chaika said. "It seems that the most important issue here is a proper mechanism of control over the adopting family."

He said measures could include clamping down on the activities of private firms that help foreign families to adopt, and stricter licensing procedures.

Education ministry figures say 12 Russian children adopted by non-Russian families have died from abuse since 1991. Eleven of the cases were registered in the United States.

On May 4, 2005, U.S. citizen Irma Pavlis was found guilty of manslaughter of a child adopted in Russia, and sentenced to 12 years in prison. In March of this year, Peggy Sue Hilt pleaded guilty of murdering her 2.5-year-old adopted Russian daughter. Russian prosecutors cited numerous legal infringements in Hilt's adoption proceedings.

The U.S. has no oversight system for international adoptions at either federal or state level, meaning that Russian consulates, private adoption agencies, and to some extent the U.S. State Department must monitor the living conditions and upbringing of adopted children from Russia.