Ukrainian Children Return From Russia After Qatar Brokers Deal
Qatar on Monday said it had brokered a deal to reunite four Ukrainian children with their families after they were taken to Russia during Moscow’s invasion of the country, a diplomatic breakthrough covering one of the most sensitive issues of the war that has seen thousands of children taken from their homes and led to war crime charges against Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Qatar has negotiated a scheme to return children to Ukraine.
Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it had negotiated a mechanism to return children from Russia to their families in Ukraine.
According to government officials, four children, aged between 2 and 17, will be the first to be repatriated through the scheme, which reportedly follows months of secretive diplomatic negotiations pursued at the request of Kyiv.
One child has been reunited with their family in Ukraine already and another is en route via Qatar with his mother, according to news reports.
The remaining two are reportedly expected to be reunited with their families this week.
Qatar hopes the mechanism will serve as a model for the return of thousands more children and the country’s minister for international co-operation Lolwah Al Khater said the repatriations are "only a first step."
Al Khater said she hopes the scheme will “pave the way” to easing tensions between Moscow and Kyiv and said Qatar will “continue its mediation in this context and others.”
Kyiv claims it has evidence that some 20,000 children have been taken to Russia during the war. While many children went to Russia with family or became stuck as war broke out, Ukraine claims these children were taken forcibly by Russian troops and placed with Russian families or in care homes. Kyiv says the Kremlin is guilty of genocide and said the abductions are an attempt to erase the Ukrainian identity. The International Criminal Court in March issued an arrest warrant for Putin and Russia’s children's commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova for war crimes over the “unlawful deportation” of children from Ukraine and their “unlawful transfer” to Russia. Russia, which does not recognize the court’s authority, strenuously denies any wrongdoing and claims it moved children for their own safety. Lvova-Belova has previously claimed Russia has taken more than 700,000, most accompanied by parents or relatives.
400. That’s how many children Ukraine says have already been repatriated after they were forcibly taken to Russia. In the absence of any formal mechanism for repatriation, as well as logistical difficulties given the ongoing state of war, this data is far from complete. The United Nations has said it is “gravely concerned” about the lack of an established returns system and that this risks putting children in harm's way.
Putin Arrest Warrant Issued By International Criminal Court Over Alleged War Crimes (Forbes)