This is related to Pizzagate because Russian adoptions in the U.S. were banned by the Russian govt. in 2013 because of concerns over numerous cases of documented abuse and deaths of Russian orphans in the U.S. and because the European Adoption Consultants agency in Strongsville, OH, which was one of three U.S. agencies specifically banned from conducting Russian adoptions in 2008, was raided by the FBI on Feb.14, 2017, as part of a criminal probe into child trafficking.

The Russian lawyer, Natalia Veselnitskaya, who met with Donald Trump, Jr. in the Trump Tower last summer, is a person of great interest. She was in the U.S. to defend her clients in a civil fraud case brought by Preet Bharara and was intent on finding support in the U.S. for overturning the Obama-era Maginsky Act.

This law which sanctioned 39 Russian businessmen and barred them from entering the U.S. resulted in Putin signing into law on Dec. 28, 2012 (the Feast of the Holy Innocents) the Dima Yakolev Law which banned Russian adoptions in the U.S. (More on the so-called "Herod Law" which was fiercely criticized by progressives in Russia and abroad on this Voat thread: https://voat.co/v/pizzagate/1987091#submissionTop

Natalia started a foundation, THE HUMAN RIGHTS ACCOUNTABILITY GLOBAL INITIATIVE FOUNDATION, ostensibly to overturn the ban on Russian adoption in the U.S. and restart the Russian adoption program in the U.S.. Her organization's website claims the Dima Yakovlev Law was passed in retaliation for the Magnitsky Act:

Officially, the Russian law was passed following outrage over the 2008 death of Chase Harrison (original Russian name Dima Yakovlev) – a toddler adopted by a Virginia family, left to die in a car on a sweltering summer day.

Unofficially, Russia passed the law in retaliation for the 2012, passage of the US “Magnitsky Act” by the U.S. Congress, which imposed sanctions on Russia and on individuals blamed for the death of the Russian citizen, Sergei Magnitsky.

The Russian govt. has denied any connection with Natalia Veselnitskaya.

What I find interesting is the huge uproar over the Dima Yakolev Law by the usual suspects: UN. Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, MSM in the U.S. , Catholic News Service, etc. Granted, there are needy orphans in Russia, but Putin added provisions to the law by executive order with the aim of improving domestic adoptions and the care of orphans, so one would imagine that folks would applaud such measures and also applaud his concern over the abuse and deaths of numerous Russian orphans in the U.S. instead of condemning him as a monster, and Herod "cannibalizing" his nation's children.

Some details on the measures in Putin's executive order:

On the day he endorsed the adoption ban, Putin signed an executive order aimed at improving support for domestic adoptions and foster care arrangements, simplifying adoption procedures, and changing attitudes in Russia about adoption. The order also calls for introducing tax breaks for Russians who adopt orphaned children, increasing salaries for orphanage staff, and increasing monthly state welfare payments for children with disabilities and those who care for children with disabilities.

Misplaced outrage, to say the least, and the fact that Natalia V. is so outraged by the cessation of Russian adoptions in U.S. that she has launched a personal crusade to restart the process all over again is not a little puzzling.

N.B. Wikipedia article on the Dima Yakolev Law states that Russian Orthodox Church applauded the Dima Yakolev Law:

The Russian Orthodox Church supports the law. Church spokesman Vsevolod Chaplin said that the orphans adopted by American citizens "won't get a truly Christian upbringing and that means falling away from the Church and from the path to eternal life, in God's kingdom".[18]

Another article here: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/dec/30/russian-church-backs-putin-adoption-ban

Russian Orthodox Church spokesman nails the issue right here:

Father Vsevolod Chaplin, a high-ranking priest and a spokesman for the church, said the law was "a search for a social answer to an elementary question: why should we give, and even sell, our children abroad?" (my emphasis)