Saudi Arabia and Turkey have been negotiating for the return of Ukrainian children for several months. According to Ukraine, up to 20,000 children were taken to Russia.
British The Financial Times reportsthat Saudi Arabia and Turkey would hold negotiations for the return of Ukrainian children abducted to Russia to Ukraine.
According to the news, officials in Kiev and Moscow have compiled a list of thousands of children who have been taken to Russia after it invaded Ukraine.
The negotiations, which were described as “very secret”, would have been held for several months. According to the newspaper, a Russian oligarch is also involved in the negotiations Roman Abramovich. Before the war, he owned the English football club Chelsea.
If the news is true, it is significant, because according to the official Russian line, the talk about forced transfers of children is a “fantasy” created by the West. Children’s Ombudsman of Russia Marija Lvova-Belova has claimed that Ukrainian children have been taken to Russia “away from the bombardment to safe areas”.
Children’s Ombudsman of Ukraine Daria Herasymchuk too however, negotiations do not take place directly with Russia. He emphasizes that the matter cannot be negotiated in the same way as the exchange of prisoners of war.
– It’s not about exchanging prisoners of war, it’s about civilians and children, Herasymtšuk tells FT.
Forced transfers from occupied territories are always war crimes according to international law. If the purpose of the forced migration of children is to destroy a group of people, it is genocide.
Ukrainian children have also ended up in Belarus. Advisor to the Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Anton Gerashchenko has shared a video on Twitter that allegedly features Belarusian singers performing for Ukrainian children. They hope the president Biden’s and To Zelensky death, and that Russia will take over all of Ukraine. According to Gerashchenko, the video was filmed in a “filter camp”. These are camps where they try to eradicate the Ukrainian identity from the children.
Turkey has tried to act as a mediator in the war. It was used to negotiate the grain transport agreement between Ukraine and Russia, from which Russia withdrew over the weekend. Turkey also received five high-ranking commanders of the Azov Battalion as part of a prisoner exchange between Ukraine and Russia. They were returned to Ukraine last week.
Instead, Saudi Arabia’s role as a mediator in the war between Russia and Ukraine has taken a back seat.
According to Ukraine, up to 20,000 children from Ukraine have been taken to Russia. Russia has been reported to be taking children to filtration camps. However, there are no exact statistics on the number of children, and children have ended up in Russia and Crimea under different circumstances.
Russia has said it will allow the children to return to Ukraine if their parents come to pick them up from Russia. The matter is complicated by the fact that Ukraine and Russia do not have a dialogue on the matter. Ukraine says Russia’s actions are “akin to genocide”.
The Children’s Ombudsman of Ukraine said for the Ukrainian Kyiv Independent– to the newspaper in April, that children have been beaten in infiltration camps if they have refused to sing the Russian national anthem. Some children have also been told that their Ukrainian parents have abandoned them.
Russia has so far returned around 370 children. The International Criminal Court ICC has issued an arrest warrant for Lvova-Belova.
has reported on the forced relocation of children in the past, for example in these stories:
https://EPN.fi/a/74-20016234
https://EPN.fi/a/74-20027128