Russia is moving towards banning "baby boxes" - the hatches introduced in many countries where desperate mothers can safely abandon an unwanted infant.

But there has been sharp criticism of the ban proposed by senator Elena Mizulina and backed by the government.

Some warn that a ban will mean more dead babies left in woods or at rubbish dumps. Russia has about 20 of the boxes, where a mother can anonymously leave a baby at a maternity unit.

A UN committee has condemned the boxes.

In a report on Russia in 2014, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child urged Russia to "undertake all the measures necessary to not allow baby boxes and to promote alternatives".

The Russian state, it said, should "address the root causes that lead to the abandonment of infants, including by providing family planning services and adequate counselling and social support for unplanned pregnancies".

Read more at BBC.