Yale report links Putin to adoption programe for deported Ukrainian children

4/12/2024 6:06

        Russian presidential
        aircraft and funds were used in a program that took children
        from occupied Ukrainian territories, stripped them of Ukrainian
        identity and placed them with Russian families, according to a
        report by Yale's School of Public Health.
        
        The U.S. State Department-backed research, published on
        Tuesday, identified 314 Ukrainian children taken to Russia in
        the early months of the war in Ukraine as part of what it says
        was a systematic, Kremlin-funded program to "Russify" them.
        
        Reuters was unable to confirm the report's findings
        independently.
        
        In March 2023, the International Criminal Court issued
        arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and his
        child rights' commissioner, Maria Lvova-Belova, for the alleged
        war crime of deportation of Ukrainian children.
        
        At the time, Lvova-Belova said her commission acted on
        humanitarian grounds to protect children in an area of military
        hostilities. Lvova-Belova's office did not immediately respond
        to a request for comment. The Kremlin said it could not respond
        to questions sent on Monday, citing a lack of time.
        
        The new research, reported first by Reuters, offers details
        of the alleged deportation programme and individuals involved,
        including what its lead researcher said were new links to Putin.
        
        The researcher, Nathaniel Raymond, Executive Director of
        Yale's Humanitarian Research Lab, said he was scheduled to
        present the findings to the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday.
        The United States holds the rotating presidency of the 15-member
        body this month.
        
        Raymond said the research offers evidence that would support
        additional charges by the ICC against Putin of "forcible
        transfer" of people from one national and ethnic group to
        another.
        
        He further said the report proved "the deportation of
        Ukraine's children is part of a systematic, Kremlin-led program"
        to make them citizens of Russia.
        
        Forcible transfer is a crime against humanity under
        international law. Because they must be widespread and
        systematic, crimes against humanity are considered more serious
        than war crimes.
        
        In response to Reuters questions, the ICC office of the
        prosecutor said the Yale report was useful "in our continued
        activities in this case." It declined to provide information
        about charges or actions that may arise from its Ukraine
        investigations.
        
        Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, reacting to the
        report, said in a statement on X: "Ukraine is tirelessly working
        to ensure our children return home and that all those
        responsible for these heinous crimes are punished."
        
        The country's prosecutor general said Yale's report
        complemented its own investigations into what had happened to
        the children, describing "a well-planned Kremlin policy with
        legislative changes, political decisions, and dedicated
        funding."
        
        In response to the ICC charges last year, Lvova-Belova said
        Russia had not moved anyone against their will or that of their
        parents or legal guardians, whose consent was always sought
        unless they were missing.
        
        She said children were placed with temporary legal guardians
        and were not given up for adoption.
        
        Russia, which does not recognise the ICC, has said the
        court's warrants are meaningless. Court decisions could
        nonetheless limit travel by charged individuals because its 124
        member states have an obligation to execute warrants.
        
        
        
        CHILDREN IDENTIFIED
        
        The research is based on data mined from three Russian
        government adoption databases over 20 months. Yale's
        investigation then mapped out the alleged program's logistics
        and funding and confirmed the identities of the 314 children,
        Raymond said.
        
        The research is part of an initiative led by the State
        Department under President Joe Biden to document potential
        violations of international law and crimes against humanity by
        Russia and Russia-aligned forces in Ukraine.
        
        The U.S. State Department did not immediately respond to a
        request for comment.
        
        The report said Ukrainian children brought to Russia had
        been subjected to "pro-state and militarised propaganda," noting
        it had documented such "patriotic re-education" at all the
        facilities where the children were processed.
        
        Reuters has documented the transfer of thousands of children
        to Russian camps, the forced naturalisation of Ukrainians and
        the involvement of Belarus in the program.
        
        Stephen Rapp, the U.S. ambassador-at-large for war crimes
        under former president Barack Obama and formerly a prosecutor at
        the international tribunals for Rwanda and Sierra Leone,
        reviewed the report and told Reuters that "it proves their
        direct involvement, making changes to law and practice to allow
        and accelerate coercive adoptions that would have been illegal
        under Russia's own law in February 2022."
        
        Kyiv estimates around 19,500 children have been taken to
        Russia or Russian-occupied Crimea since the invasion.
        Lvova-Belova has challenged Kyiv's numbers and asked it to
        provide evidence.
        
        She previously said 380 orphans and children not in the
        custody of parents were placed with Russian foster families
        between April and October 2022.
        
        
        
        FLIGHTS
        
        Russia began taking Ukrainian children from occupied
        Ukrainian territories in the days before the invasion in Feb.
        2022, according to the report.
        
        Russia's Aerospace Forces and aircraft under the direct
        control of Putin's office transported multiple groups of
        children from Ukraine on Russian Federation-flagged military
        transport planes between May and October 2022, the report said.
        
        The report said at least two groups of children flew on
        aircraft managed by the Presidential Property Management
        Department within the Presidential Administration in May and
        October 2022.
        
        Children taken to the Chkalovsky military airfield just
        outside Moscow on Sept. 16, 2022 had been transported from the
        occupied Ukrainian territories of Donetsk and Luhansk to the
        Russian city of Rostov, not far from Ukraine's border, then
        flown on a plane with tail number RA-85123, the report said.
        
        The aircraft is a TU-154M operated by the 223rd Flight Squad
        of the Russian Defence Ministry, it said. Flight tracking data
        on website Flightradar24.com also confirmed this.
        
        Of the 314 Ukrainian children identified, 166 were placed
        directly with Russia citizens, the report said. The other 148
        were listed in Russia's child placement databases, with about a
        third of those now placed with Russian citizens. The remaining
        children were last known to be located at Russian institutions,
        the report said.