Employees of the Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) and prosecutors have established the circumstances, detailed route, and all those involved in the deportation of two young children from Ukraine to Russia, as well as the forced relocation of 46 more children to occupied Crimea.
This was reported by the Office of the Prosecutor General.
According to prosecutors, among the organizers and perpetrators of the crime are a deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation, the so-called "Minister of Health of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea" and his deputy appointed by the occupation authorities, the head of the "Health Department of the occupied Kherson region," and the acting chief physician of the "Kherson Regional Baby House."
They are under sanctions in Ukraine for committing war crimes against Ukrainian children.
Kidnapping
At the end of August 2022, the State Duma deputy and her accomplice arrived in occupied Kherson under the guise of an official visit.
They inspected the children and organized the deportation of two children—a girl aged 11 months and a boy nearly two years old. Only the girl was deprived of parental care; the boy was temporarily placed in the institution due to difficult family circumstances.
To facilitate the unimpeded removal of these two children to Russia, occupation officials prepared documents stating that the accompanying persons were the mentioned Russian citizens.
The boy and girl were illegally taken to Moscow under the pretext of undergoing additional examination and treatment, although the investigation established that their health did not require it.
Subsequently, Russian-style birth certificates were issued to the Ukrainian children. Later, the leader of the “Fair Russia” party and his wife adopted one child and changed their personal data except for the date of birth. The boy’s current whereabouts are unknown.
Relocation
In addition, in October 2022, 46 children aged from newborn to 5 years were taken from the Kherson Regional Baby House.
The suspects personally accompanied their transfer to the "Yalinka" children's institution, controlled by the occupation "Ministry of Health of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea."
Later, the Russian Presidential Commissioner for Children’s Rights visited the institution and stated that her office would assist in placing the children into Russian foster families.
Since the start of the full-scale invasion, Russia has been removing Ukrainian children from occupied territories. Some of them are illegally adopted in Russia.
