The Financial Times has identified four children taken by Russia from Ukrainian orphanages. One of them has a new name and age, UNN reports.
Details
The FT has identified and located four Ukrainian children who were removed from Ukrainian orphanages by Russia in the early months of the Kremlin's invasion in 2022, whose names are on a database of missing persons in Ukraine.
Journalists found that three children are currently in the Orenburg and Tula regions, while the fourth is in annexed Crimea.
One child has a new Russian name and a different age, which differ from documents issued by the Ukrainian government. Another child is pictured with a Russian version of his Ukrainian name. These children have no mention of their Ukrainian origins, the Financial Times has found out.
Supplement
A recent New York Times investigation confirmed that seventeen other children identified by the FT on an adoption website were Ukrainian children, all from an orphanage in Kherson.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and children's rights ombudsman Maria Lvova-Belova, saying they bear criminal responsibility for the war crime of illegal deportation of children, the Financial Times recalls.
The Kremlin justifies its actions by saying it was done to protect them; President Putin signed decrees allowing Ukrainian children removed to Russia to receive Russian citizenship more quickly.