KIEV, January 4 (RIA Novosti) – Ukraine’s President Viktor Yanukovych has waded into the heated debate on international adoption that followed the US Magnitsky Act and Russia's response, stressing that the issue of adoption must not be politicized.

“My main principle is that the interests of the child should be paramount in all issues that concern them. I think it is wrong for the issue of adoption to be focused on to political ends,” Yanukovych said in an interview with a Ukrainian newspaper on Friday.

The debate over the issue continues, following the US introduction of the Magnitsky Act and Russia’s response – which includes a ban on the adoption of Russian children by US citizens.

In his interview with Ukraine's Komsomolskaya Pravda, the president was adamant that adoption-related issues should be handled professionally. He also made the point that the need for international adoption would vanish if homes for abandoned children could be found domestically.

“In recent years the state’s priority regarding adoption has fundamentally changed. Our day-to-day task, which we are seeing bear fruit, is for each child who has lost their parents to find a home within Ukraine,” he said.

Yanukovych noted that, this year, Ukrainians adopted nearly three times more children than foreigners, and added that Ukrainian law places a restriction on the adoption of healthy children under five by foreigners.