According to a report by Yale’s School of Public Health, Russian presidential aircraft and money were used in a program in which children were taken from occupied Ukrainian territories, stripped of their Ukrainian identity and reassigned to Russian families. Kept together.
US State Department-backed research published Tuesday has identified 314 Ukrainian children taken to Russia in the early months of the war in Ukraine, describing them as part of a systematic, Kremlin-funded program to “Russify” them.
Reuters was unable to independently confirm the report’s findings.
In March 2023, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Child Rights Commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova for the alleged war crime of deportation of Ukrainian children.
At the time, Lvova-Belova said that her commission worked on a humanitarian basis to protect children in the area where military actions were taking place. Lvova-Belova’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Kremlin said it could not respond to questions sent on Monday, citing time constraints.
The new report shared with Reuters provides details of the alleged deportation program and the individuals involved, including its lead researcher with new ties to Putin.
Researcher Nathaniel Raymond, executive director of Yale’s Humanitarian Research Lab, said he was scheduled to present the findings to the United Nations Security Council on Wednesday. The United States is assuming the rotating presidency of the 15-member body this month.
Raymond said the research offers evidence that would support additional charges brought by the ICC against Putin of “forced transfer” of people from a national and ethnic group.
He further said that the report proves that “the deportation of Ukrainian children is part of a systematic, Kremlin-led program to turn them into Russian citizens”.
Forced transfer is a crime against humanity under international law. Because they must be widespread and systematic, crimes against humanity are generally considered more serious than war crimes, with Putin currently accused of the alleged deportation of Ukrainian children.
In response to Reuters questions, the ICC Office of the Prosecutor said the Yale report was useful “in our continuing activities in this case”. He said he could not provide further details about charges or actions arising from his investigative activities in Ukraine.
The Ukrainian president’s office did not respond to requests for comment. Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s Office said it had no immediate comment.
In response to ICC allegations last year, Lvova-Belova said that Russia had never transferred anyone against their will or that of their parents or legal guardians, whose consent was always sought unless they were transferred. Don’t go missing.
He said the children were placed with temporary legal guardians and were not given up for adoption.
Russia, which does not recognize the ICC, has said the court’s warrants are meaningless. The court’s rulings could nevertheless limit the travel of accused individuals as its 124 member states have the responsibility to execute warrants.
children identified
The research is based on data obtained from three Russian government adoption databases over 20 months. The Yale investigation explored the logistics and funding of the alleged program and confirmed the identities of 314 children, Raymond said.
The research is part of an initiative led by the State Department under President Joe Biden to document potential violations of international law and crimes against humanity by Russia and Russia-aligned forces in Ukraine.
The US State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Ukrainian children brought to Russia were subjected to “pro-state and militarized propaganda”, the report said, adding that such “patriotic re-education” was documented in all facilities where children were held. was treated.
Reuters has documented the transfer of thousands of children to Russian camps, the forced naturalization of Ukrainians, and Belarus’s participation in the program.
Stephen Rapp, the U.S. ambassador for war crimes under former President Barack Obama and formerly a prosecutor at international tribunals for Rwanda and Sierra Leone, reviewed the report and told Reuters that “it proves their direct involvement, in law “Making a change.” “And allow and accelerate the practice of forced adoption, which will be illegal under Russia’s own law in February 2022.”
Kiev estimates that some 19,500 children have been taken to Russia or Russian-occupied Crimea since the invasion. Lvova-Belova has challenged Kiev’s figures and asked it to provide evidence.
He previously said that 380 orphans and children no longer in parental custody were placed with Russian foster families between April and October 2022.
flights
According to the report, Russia began taking Ukrainian children from occupied Ukrainian territories in the days before the invasion in February 2022.
The report said Russia’s Aerospace Forces and aircraft under the direct control of Putin’s office transported several groups of children from Ukraine on Russian Federation-flagged military transport aircraft between May and October 2022.
The report said at least two groups of children flew on planes managed by the Presidential Asset Management Department within the presidential administration in May and October 2022.
The children, taken to the Chkalovsky military airfield just outside Moscow on September 16, 2022, were flown from the occupied Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Luhansk to the Russian city of Rostov, not far from the border with Ukraine, then tail number RA Flew in a plane with. -85123, the report said.
It said the aircraft is a Tu-154M operated by the Russian Defense Ministry’s 223rd Flying Squadron. Flight tracking data on the website Flightradar24.com has also confirmed this.
The report said that of the 314 Ukrainian children identified, 166 were directly placed with Russian citizens. Another 148 were listed in Russia’s child placement database, about a third of whom are now placed with Russian citizens. The remaining children were last found in Russian institutions, the report said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
