Russia’s Children’s Commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova, the target of an International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant, said on Tuesday she was ready to return deported children to Ukraine if their families demand it.
Ukrainian authorities accuse Russia of abducting “more than 16,000 children” from Ukraine since the offensive began more than a year ago.
Moscow, in turn, claims to have “rescued” these children from the fighting and established procedures to reunite them with their families.
At a press conference held last Tuesday, Maria Lvova-Belova guaranteed that she had not been contacted by “only representative of the Ukrainian power” about the children deported since the beginning of the war and invited their parents to send her an electronic message. to send.
“Write me (…) to find your child,” the Russian official declared.
A report from his committee released this Tuesday indicates that 16 children from nine families have been reunited with their relatives living in Ukraine or elsewhere since March 29, that is, in the past week.
However, Russia’s Children’s Commissioner again this Tuesday refused to release the full list of the names of Ukrainian children deported to Russia since the start of the invasion on February 24, 2022.
According to the report, 380 Ukrainian orphans in Russia were placed in foster care, 22 of them minors who were abandoned in Mariupol, a port city in southern Ukraine that was devastated last year by a nearly three-month siege by the Russian army.
The adopted children received Russian nationality, while retaining their original nationality.
According to Maria Lvova-Belova, a teenager brought from Mariupol to Russia was arrested at the border with Belarus when he tried to return to Ukraine.
However, she assured that the boy was “lured into Ukrainian territory through manipulation and threats” by several people identified as “agents”.
The ICC issued a landmark arrest warrant in March against Russian President Vladimir Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova, finding them believed to be responsible for the “war crime of illegal deportation” of Ukrainian minors.
In turn, the UN Human Rights Council on Tuesday demanded that Russia allow international organizations to visit children and other civilians “forcibly deported” from Ukraine to Moscow-controlled areas.
“[A Rússia tem de] stop the forced and illegal transfer and deportation of civilians and other protected persons within Ukraine [para o leste] or for the Russian Federation (…), in particular children, including those institutionalized, unaccompanied and/or separated”, reads a resolution adopted in Geneva by 28 votes to 17 abstentions and two votes against (China and Eritrea).
The military offensive launched by Russia in Ukraine in February 2022 has so far led to the flight of more than 14.6 million people – 6.5 million internally displaced persons and more than 8.1 million to European countries -, according to the latest data from the UN classifies this refugee crisis as the worst in Europe since World War II (1939-1945).
At least 18 million Ukrainians currently need humanitarian aid and 9.3 million people need food aid and shelter.
The Russian invasion – justified by Putin with the need to “denazify” and demilitarize Ukraine for Russia’s security – was condemned by the international community at large, which responded by sending arms to Ukraine and imposing political and political sanctions. put to Russia.
The UN presented as confirmed since the start of the war, which this Tuesday entered its 405th day, 8,451 civilian deaths and 14,156 wounded, underlining that these numbers are well below the real ones.
Source: DN
