Russia's abduction of Ukrainian children: Legal moves raise concerns

As Ukrainian politician Anton Herashchenko emphasizes, Russia continues the abduction of Ukrainian children at the legislative level. They are being taken by force and deceit from the occupied territories.

Their documents are being changed to Russian, they are being adopted even though they have relatives living in Ukraine, and international organisations are being prevented from helping these children return home.

Investigations conducted by both Ukrainian news agencies and Russian opposition media indicate that Russia denies the legal guardians of forcibly deported and adopted Ukrainian children the opportunity to repatriate these children.

One example was recently reported by the "BBC" portal. Sergei Mironov and his wife, Inna Varlamova, deported a ten-month-old girl and a two-year-old boy from an orphanage in the Kherson region in the autumn of 2022.

Mironov and Varlamova adopted the girl, changing her first name, surname, and place of birth on the new Russian birth certificate. The boy's whereabouts remain unknown.

Two years ago, it was loudly reported that thousands of Ukrainian infants were forcibly taken to Russia during the war in Ukraine to give them up for forced adoption. Behind this horrifying human trafficking operation stands the Kremlin, specifically Maria Lvova-Belova.

Now, shocking words were spoken by Anna Kuznetsova, Deputy Chair of the Russian State Duma.

We have prepared 64 proposals and recommendations. They are aimed at expanding actions to support social services and resocialisation of children. They are intended to protect minors from crimes by foreign states. The proposals aim to strengthen international legal mechanisms and the children who have suffered from Kyiv's criminal actions. We want to create a register of children - emphasizes the Russian woman.

As Anton Herashchenko adds, these terrible war crimes must be carefully documented for future trials.