The background of the forced migration of Ukrainian children is an organization protected by President Alexander Lukashenko. Forced transfers of children is one of the grounds for war crime charges against Russian President Vladimir Putin.
According to the British newspaper The Guardian, dozens of children forcibly transferred from Ukraine have arrived in Belarus.
According to the newspaper 48 children from Russian-occupied Donetsk, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia came to Belarus escorted by riot police.
After arriving in the country, the children waved Belarusian flags. According to the state news agency Belta, the children “thanked” the Belarusian authorities.
Belarusian authorities have repeatedly denied their involvement in the forced migration of children from Ukraine.
However, Belta said on Tuesday that the transport of the children had been organized by a Belarusian charity whose patron is the country’s president Alexander Lukashenko.
– The president has said that this important project must continue, the head of the organization Alexei Talai said the news agency Belta.
According to Alexei Talai, the president “wants to help the children of the dilapidated cities of the new regions of Russia”.
Illegal forced transfers of children are war crimes
According to the Belarusian opposition, more than 2,100 Ukrainian children were transferred to Belarus in June. Children had been taken from at least 15 Ukrainian cities occupied by Russia.
The Belarusian opposition has handed over its information about the June forced migrations to the International Criminal Court, ICC.
The illegal forced transfer of children from Ukraine to Russia is one of the criminal court’s main reasons for accusing the Russian president Vladimir Putin of war crimes. In March, the ICC issued an international arrest warrant for Putin.