Since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine more than two years ago, thousands of Ukrainian infants have been forcibly taken to Russia to give them up for forced adoption. Behind this horrifying human trafficking operation stands the Kremlin, specifically Putin ally Maria Lvova-Belova.
Abducted Ukrainian children’s documents are changed to Russian ones, they are adopted while having living relatives in Ukraine, and international organizations are prevented from helping these children return home.
One example was reported by the British BBC. Sergei Mironov, the 70-year-old leader of a Russian political party, and his wife, Inna Varlamova, deported an orphanage in the Kherson region in the fall of 2022 and forcibly adopted a 10 month old girl.. The child, originally named Margarita, was one of 48 who went missing from Kherson Regional Children’s Home when Russian forces took control of the city.
Now, Russia is set to ‘legislate’ its crime against humanity. Anna Kuznetsova, Deputy Chair of the Russian State Duma, said that Russia has prepared 64 proposals and recommendations “aimed to expanding messures to support social services and the resocialization of children [and] protect minors from crimes by foreign states [and] the regime in Kyiv”. In other words: Russia officially denies the legal guardians of forcibly deported and adopted Ukrainian children and attempts to prevent the opportunity to repatriate these children.
Here is a video (2 min) of Ms. Kuznetsova’s announcment in the Duma, Russia’s parliament.
