For the record: Ukranian children not ‘illegally taken’, they were rescued

The Citizen article ‘Over 30 Ukrainian children returned from Russia’ of 9 April 2023 referring to Mykola Kuleba, head of the Save Ukraine charity organisation, reports on the return to Ukraine of 31 children ‘illegally taken to Russia from territories occupied’ – this is how they try to sell evacuation from unsafe territories, areas where active hostilities take place.

Mainstream media regularly spread fakes about the dangers that await refugees in Russia, which comes as no surprise because they use Ukrainian propaganda outlets as their source. Let us reveal now what the situation truly is.

Russia has harboured more Ukrainian refugees than any other country taken alone. According to the Joint Coordination Headquarters for Humanitarian Response of the Russian Federation, as of end of February, 2023, 4 568 032 people including 689 842 children have been evacuated from dangerous areas of Ukraine and new regions to the territory of Russia from the start of the special military operation.

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Most of the evacuated children arrived in Russia with their families, accompanied by either parents or guardians and custodians. They were accommodated in temporary facilities, or whenever possible, rented accommodation.

Appealing to the foreign media, one cannot help noticing the widespread, intentional or accidental misinterpretation of terms.

Talking about the living conditions of orphans and unaccompanied children, the media use the term ‘adoption’, though the term ‘guardianship’ (or, provisionally, ‘foster care’, ‘custody’) is legally appropriate.

In their respect the President of Russia gave an order to remove legal barriers for placing such children mainly under the preliminary guardianship or custody of Russian citizens.

The Russian side has never prevented children from maintaining contacts with their relatives and friends, regardless of their residence.

To illustrate, let us refer to the story of the T. family. Ukrainian citizen, the mother of five, left for work several months prior to the special military operation. As a result, the children were temporarily accommodated in a foster institution, and later they were evacuated to Russia, accompanied by a guardian.

The mother, for her part, contacted the Children’s Rights Commissioner office in Russia. With her transportation costs covered by the Russian authorities, she came to Russia and the family successfully reunited.

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The story of a group of minors from Mariupol in 2022, whose fate the Ukrainian side suddenly became concerned about just now, deserves special attention. 31 children were found in basements neglected, therefore they were evacuated to the territory of the Russian Federation.

Between May 27 and June 20, 2022, juveniles underwent a rehabilitation course in the children’s sanatorium ‘Polyany’ in the plush neighborhood of the Moscow region.

Since the location of the children’s legal representatives and the circumstances under which they were left without their guardians mostly remain unknown, upon completion of their rehabilitation course, the Donetsk People’s Republic custody authorities applied to the federal authorities for further keeping the children in Russia.

The children were informed of the Ukrainian side’s interest in their return. Most of them were reluctant to go back, as they were not familiar with their potential guardians, and chose to stay in Russia.

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Yet another report by the Western media covers vacation of minors from Kherson and Zaporozhye regions, staying in summer camps in the Crimea. As propaganda media claimed, 2 360 children were kept in ‘camps’ in horrible conditions with ‘Russian propaganda’ allegedly imposed upon them.

We see no point in commenting on this outright rubbish, only add that today, most of the children have been handed over to their parents or legal representatives.

The accusations against all Russia of forcefully moving children to Russia spread by the MSM have no grounds and are mere speculation that repeatedly showed the insufficient awareness of the Western public.

The cynicism and hypocrisy of the Western establishment and the MSM in this regard is indeed shocking. Children and their parents in Donbass have not seen a peaceful life for the past nine years.

Some of them have been forced to shelter for years in basements under shelling by the Armed Forces of Ukraine. And they started seeing it as a norm of life. Most of the murdered minors were killed in the ‘air raids’ by the Ukrainian ‘liberators’ in Donbass.

In memory of the innocent children’s souls, the Angel Alley, a memorial complex in Donetsk, was inaugurated with more than a hundred infants buried there. It is with the purpose to protect people of Donbass the special military operation was commenced.

Has ever anyone of Western officials/journalists raised their voices to support the children of Donbass?

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• Ilya Rogachev is the Ambassador of the Russian Federation to the Republic of South Africa, and this letter was published in order to provide the right of reply to a wire service article which was published by The Citizen. The views expressed herein are not those of The Citizen, but solely those of the author.