Commissioner for Children's Rights Maria Lvova-Belova said that 30 Ukrainian children were taken from Mariupol to Russia, who were allegedly abandoned by foster parents. These children, according to Lvova-Belova, were placed in new families and taught to love Russia. Ukraine demands to return the children to their legal representatives, but Russia refuses to do so.
“We have now brought a group of children from Mariupol, 30 people, who were found in the basements. Who were abandoned by foster parents and evacuated without them. We left them in fact in a difficult situation, and when we brought them to the Moscow region so that they could recover a little, they spoke negatively about the president, said all sorts of nasty things, sang the anthem of Ukraine, glory to Ukraine and all that. But a little time passed, these children ended up in foster families in the Moscow region, one of the boys ended up in my family, and I can see before my eyes how this integration began to take place, ”said Lvova-Belova.
According to her, Ukraine is demanding the return of the children from Mariupol: “[Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine] Vereshchuk asked for these children back on some incomprehensible basis, and said that there are legal representatives who are ready to accept them into their families. For example, the foster family went to Germany, for some reason left the children, it is not clear, and now she wants to pick them up.
Lvova-Belova claims that they asked the children if they wanted to return to their parents, but the children allegedly did not want to. “None of the children wanted to return. And they said: "We are very good here." Therefore, there is some negativity, maybe at the beginning, but then it will be transformed into love for Russia, ”she said.
Ukraine has repeatedly accused Russia of kidnapping Ukrainian children in the occupied territories. On September 20, Vereshchuk said that more than two thousand Ukrainian children deprived of parental care were taken to Russia. She assured that Ukraine would look for them and demand their return.