The International Criminal Court accused Russian President, Vladimir Putin and Children’s Commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova of unlawfully deporting children from Ukraine. The Commissioner has, however, rejected these allegations as false.
In a news conference in Moscow, Lvova-Belova stated that the commission always sought the consent of the children’s parents and acted in their best interests.
She emphasized that the commission’s work focused on guardianship rather than adoption. Lvova-Belova also offered to help solve specific problems with families.
“It is unclear to the presidential commissioner for children’s rights what the International Criminal Court’s allegations specifically consist of and what they are based on,” the commission said in a statement before the news conference.
The ICC claimed that hundreds of children were taken from orphanages and children’s care homes in areas of Ukraine occupied by Russian forces. Some of those children were given up for adoption in Russia.
However, Lvova-Belova argued that Donetsk and Luhansk, two Ukrainian regions partially controlled by Russia, had asked Russia to accept civilians, including orphans and children whose parents were missing. She said Russia had accepted more than 730,000 children since February 2022.
Lvova-Belova rejected accusations from Ukraine and what her commission called disinformation from foreign journalists about “deportations of children,” which she said were false.
She dismissed claims that children were taken to camps for alleged re-education, and her commission did not know of any cases where children were separated from their blood relatives to be given up for adoption.
The ongoing conflict in Ukraine, has killed hundreds of thousands of men on both sides, while millions of adults and children have been displaced. Since the invasion, Ukraine has accused Russia of war crimes, including the theft of children while Russia says it is carrying out “a special military operation” and that the West has ignored Ukraine’s own crimes.
