Child trafficking and illegal adoptions of at least 6,000 children from Ukraine to Russia, according to a report by the Ukraine Conflict Observatory, in collaboration with the Yale University Humanitarian Research Laboratory.
The report, titled “Russia’s Systematic Program to Re-Educate and Adopt Ukraine’s Children,” claims that the Kremlin has begun a systematic and large-scale “re-education” (as it calls it) of Ukrainian children removed from their their parents or guardians to “educate” them to acquire pro-Russian sentiments.
According to data presented by Yale University research, since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, the Russian federal government has transferred at least 6,000 children between the ages of four months and 17 years to 43 facilities in Crimea and mainland Russia.
Unmute
They went on vacation and never came back
The majority of the facilities are said to be recreational camps where children were taken from war-torn and devastated areas of Ukraine under the pretense of being hosted for a short time on holiday in Russia.
Some of the children, however, ended up in foster families or were given up for adoption in Russia with the Russian authorities refusing to return them to parents or relatives in Ukraine.
In the report, Yale University claims that the children attend special re-education programs and many receive military training, with Conflict Monitor also investigating the vast network of people responsible for facilitating the transport of children from Ukraine to Russia.
From the Crimea to the Far East
Most of the 43 facilities are located in Crimea, another 12 have been located in areas around the Black Sea, and 10 around major cities such as Moscow, Kazan and Yekaterinburg with the most remote being in the Magadan region in the Far East of of Russia near the Pacific Ocean, about 3,900 miles from the Ukrainian border.
The “camp” in Magadan is about three times closer to the United States than to the Ukrainian border while eleven of these camps are within 500 miles of the Ukrainian border.
According to the report, the purpose of bringing the children to Russia is to “re-educate” them with a focus on Russian culture, politics and military guidance.
To foster families with forged signatures
Yale HRL has reportedly identified at least two camps where children who have lost their parents are taken to be given to foster families or adopted in Russia. It is estimated that at least 20 children have new families in the Moscow region and were enrolled in schools in the area.
Many of the children were allegedly taken to Russia against their will and authorization documents for their transfer, with forged signatures of unknown persons, were found.
Some parents in Ukraine claim that specific elements of the consent they gave, such as length of stay and reunification procedures with their children, were violated.
Still other parents reportedly refused to allow their children to go to camps, but were ignored by Russian camp organizers, who enrolled the children in camps without their approval.
The report further highlights that “in many cases, the ability of parents to provide meaningful consent may be considered questionable, as war conditions and the implied threat of occupation forces represent conditions of coercion.”
They refuse to return the children
To date, the children have not returned to Ukraine as the Russian authorities refuse to return them.
At two facilities, Artek and Medvezhonok, the children’s returns were suspended indefinitely, according to parents who spoke to the Yale researchers.
Medvezhonok is one of the largest camps identified in Russia, hosting at least 300 children from Ukraine since last summer.
Hundreds of other children have been located in two other camps, Luchistyi and Orlyonok, with no one knowing if and when they will return to Ukraine.
Yale HRL was unable to determine how many of those children have been reunited with their families, but many parents have complained that they have no information about their children’s whereabouts and what conditions they are living in.
Source: Huffington Post
