Russia has forcibly relocated at least 6,000 Ukrainian children for re-education and adoption, Conflict Observatory, a programme backed by the US State Department, reported on Tuesday.
Russia Providing Military Training to Children
The report notes that Moscow has transferred the children to a “network of re-education and adoption facilities” in Crimea and eastern Russia. It identifies 43 such facilities that have been holding children since the war began on 24 February 2022.
.@StateDeptSpox on the latest @ObserveConflict report: Russia’s system of forced relocation, re-education, and adoption of Ukraine’s children is a key element of the Kremlin’s systematic efforts to deny and suppress Ukraine’s identity, it’s history, and it’s culture. pic.twitter.com/LPokTVO2ew
— Department of State (@StateDept) February 14, 2023
While the majority of facilities are “recreational camps,” where children are taken for “ostensible vacations,” other centres are “used to house children put up for foster care or adoption in Russia.”
It stated that a majority of these camps have engaged in “pro-Russia re-education efforts,” and a few others have “provided military training to children or suspended the children’s return to their parents in Ukraine.”
Camp Locations
The report states that 12 of the camps are clustered around the Black Sea, seven are in Crimea, and ten are located across Moscow, Kazan, and Yekaterinburg. Two of the camps are located in Siberia and Russia’s far east, respectively.
The study also touts the possibility that the exact number of facilities could be higher than 43 and the total number of children is possibly “significantly higher” than 6,000.
Children Taken under Duress
According to Conflict Observatory, Russian officials collect consent from parents under duress. Furthermore, they “routinely violate” terms of the consent agreement, and in several cases, officials ignored parents’ concerns and forcibly took their children to camps.
The research found that in 10% of the camps, children were not allowed to return to Ukraine and, in some cases, were “suspended indefinitely.”
All Levels of Russia’s Government Involved
“This operation is centrally coordinated by Russia’s federal government and involves every level of government,” the document noted. The report also found that top officials from the federal, regional, and local levels are “directly engaged” in the programme.
US Calls Programme a “War Crime”
Noting that Russia is violating the fourth Geneva convention on protecting civilians during wartime, the US State Department called the programme a “war crime.”
The department stated in a release that the forcible transfer of children is part of Russia’s efforts “to deny and suppress Ukraine’s identity, history, and culture.”