At least 314 children were identified, according to a report prepared by Yale University. Many of them are now unknown.
Remove Ukrainian children from their homes, strip them of their Ukrainian identity and make them start their lives over with Russian families. Accusations of this type have arisen since Russia launched what Vladimir Putin calls a special military operation, but there was no certainty about the president’s direct involvement in this issue.
Now, and after an investigation by the Yale University School of Public Health, which was sponsored by the United States government – it is part of a more comprehensive initiative that Joe Biden ordered from the State Department -, there is a connection: the presidential plane and Funds from the Russian presidency were used directly for this purpose, according to the report published this Tuesday, and which is cited by .
The North American institution guarantees that it identified 314 children taken from areas occupied by the Russian military in the first months of the war. The research says that this orchestration was part of a program financed by the Kremlin to “Russify” minors.
Indeed, in March 2023, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant in the name of Vladimir Putin and the Commissioner for Children’s Rights, Maria Lvova-Belova, for alleged war crimes following their illegal deportation. of Ukrainian children.
At the time, the Russian official stated that the commission she heads worked on a humanitarian basis to protect children in the affected areas, namely in Donbass.
This Wednesday, the executive director of Yale University’s Humanitarian Research Laboratory, Nathaniel Raymond, is expected to present the report to the United Nations Security Council, where Russia is one of the five permanent members.
In statements cited by the Reuters agency, Nathaniel Raymond believes that this new evidence will give consistency to the ICC warrant, as well as lead to new charges from that court against the Russian president, namely for the “forced transfer” of people of nationalities and ethnic groups different from the local ones. of destination.
“The deportation of Ukrainian children is part of a systematic program, led by the Kremlin”, to make them citizens of Russia, he assured.
As for criminal liability, the forced transfer of people is a crime against humanity, in the light of International Law, as it can be done in a more comprehensive and systematic way. A crime against humanity is considered more serious than a war crime.
On the Russian side, the latest version on the matter remains: the children were taken for their protection and no one is kept in Russia against their will or that of their family members or legal guardians, whose consent was always sought, except in cases where these people were missing.
As for the work, the Yale team drew on three Russian government adoption databases over more than 20 months. A mapping of the children tracked was carried out and the identity of 314 of them was confirmed, all of which were, according to the report, subjected to Russian “pro-state and army propaganda”, receiving documents that suggest a “patriotic re-education”, in the image of what Russia, in this case in a non-forced way.
Without more concrete data, Ukraine estimates that around 19,500 Ukrainian children have been taken to Russia or occupied Crimea since February 2022. Maria Lvova-Belova denies these figures, noting only that 380 orphans have been placed in foster care in Russia between April and October 2022.
But the withdrawal began earlier. The report indicates that days before the Russian offensive began, soldiers were already traveling with children. Some of them were sent by the Aerospace Forces. Some of them were taken on a plane under the direct order of Vladimir Putin. At least two groups of children were transported on this plane, on flights managed by the Presidential Property Management Department, and in coordination with the Presidential Administration.
Of the 314 children identified, 166 were placed directly with Russian families, the report reveals. The rest were registered in reception center databases, and many of them were lost.
