the search for children deported by Russia, “a race against time before they disappear”

In this photo published on December 6, 2023, they pose proudly with yellow and blue flags, the colors of Ukraine. Wrapped in their thick coats, snow up to their ankles, these children have just returned to their native country. Aged 8 to 18, they are among the last eight young Ukrainians to have been repatriated from Russia, where they were taken by force on orders from Moscow.

“It was a very emotional day”confides Mariam Lambert, director of operations of the NGO Orphans Feeding Foundation, which participated in the return of these children. “Never have I heard so many cries of joy mixed with pain and relief”remembers the one who attended the reunion. “It was also the culmination of long months of work, and a grueling journey for the children, who had been scattered across several Russian regions.”

This repatriation took place on Saint Nicholas Day, a very important holiday in Ukraine as in Russia. A coincidence of the calendar? Behind the scenes, the actors in this operation say no more. Because it is in secret that they can best organize these very rare returns, “almost miraculous”, breathes Mariam Lambert. According to the Kiev count, which dedicates a website to this question, of the 19,546 Ukrainian children deported since the start of the Russian invasion, only 388 have been officially repatriated.

On the ground as well as in international summits, many actors are working hard to obtain “the prompt return” of these children torn from their country, as demanded by the report of an independent UN commission of inquiry. But faced with the system put in place by Moscow, the task seems more and more difficult. Some children left Ukraine more than a year and a half ago and associations fear losing track of them forever.

Traffic managed by the Kremlin

The transfer of Ukrainian children was widely documented by kyiv as well as around ten NGOs. “The most affected regions are those which have been or remain occupied by Russian troops, such as those of Mariupol, Donetsk or Luhansk”, explains Anastasiia Khaliulova, from the Ukrainian Child Rights network. In the “temporarily occupied territories”, as Ukraine calls them, clandestine groups attempt to prevent the transfer of infants, children and adolescents to Russia. But above all they seek to follow the trail of those who have already been kidnapped.

By declaring that these children are “all orphans”which has been contradicted by numerous independent investigations, including that of the program “Sources” on Arte, the Moscow regime transferred thousands of minors out of Ukraine with very different profiles.

“Some of the kidnapped children were placed in reception centers, often temporarily, and still have their parents. Others were separated from their families at home. They were taken by soldiers, on the sidelines of the fighting.”

Anastasiia Khaliulova, employee of the Ukrainian Child Rights network

at franceinfo

During the Russian occupation, some children from the Kherson or Kharkiv regions were also sent to “holiday camps” in Russia, supposedly for a few weeks, but never returned.

“We have a fairly clear vision of the system put in place by the Russians and their accomplices”, assures Anastasiia Khaliulova. Among the faces of this vast network, we find that of Maria Lvova-Belova, Russian commissioner in charge of children’s rights. Appointed to this position at the end of 2021 by Vladimir Putin, this 39-year-old mother embodies the Kremlin’s pronatalist and identity policy. Married to an Orthodox priest, she has five biological children, but also custody of eighteen other minors, including a Ukrainian teenager whom she says she “find” In “a cellar in Mariupol”reports RFI.

Because she is considered the leader of the deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia, Maria Lvova-Belova is the subject of an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court (ICC). Officially, its program – called “In the Hands of the Child” – has the mission of sending humanitarian aid to Ukraine. But the centers opened for the occasion were also used to transit a large number of children to Russia, as highlighted by the Molfar agency, specializing in the analysis of open sources. According to her,At least fourteen executives from various Russian or separatist administrations in Ukraine participate in this child trafficking.

Children sent to camps

More worrying, according to Beth Van Schaack, US ambassador for international criminal justice, “a number of non-state actors, frankly frightening” little hands are made of these deportations. “These include far-right motorcycle gangs… who are taking children out of Ukraine”she warned at the end of November during a conference. Once transferred, Ukrainian children are usually placed in institutions. Many are then adopted by a family in Russia.

For these displaced young people, the Russian administration often works extra hard. Some were given passports after an express procedure, others were sent to “re-education camps”. Those who wanted to return to Ukraine were detained at the borders of Russia or Belarus, like the young Bogdan Iermokhine, finally repatriated at the end of November on the eve of his 18th birthday, after almost being forcibly conscripted into the Russian army.

Very mobilized on this issue, the Ukrainian presidency is also counting on international pressure to bring young Ukrainians home. On December 8, the International Coalition of Countries for the Return of Ukrainian Children organized its first meeting in kyiv, with the aim of “coordinate projects ensuring the repatriation, rehabilitation and safe integration of these minors”.

New research methods

A month later, on January 8, a working group called “Bring Kids Back” launched by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky also held its first meeting. “These are welcome initiatives, which focus on high-level negotiationscomments Mariam Lambert, from the Orphans Feeding foundation. All this is complementary to the work of NGOs on the ground. We are more mobilized than ever.”

During the children’s return on December 6, Unicef ​​but also Qatar were warmly thanked on Telegram by Dmytro Lubinets, Ukrainian commissioner for human rights. After facilitating the negotiations and the transportation of the children, Qatar “has established itself as a good intermediary in this matter”observes Mariam Lambert.