Qatar said on Monday it had reunited with their families in Ukraine four Ukrainian children who were on Russian territory after being taken by Moscow authorities following the invasion in February 2022.
“Qatar announces the success of an operation consisting of reuniting a number of Ukrainian children with their families,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Doha said in a statement.
He said he hoped to see this operation mark “the beginning” of a process aimed at allowing the repatriation of more children to Ukraine.
The ministry explained that it gathered these children and their relatives last week at the headquarters of the Qatari embassy in Moscow, before “transporting them to their final destination” in Ukraine.
A Qatari diplomatic source close to the matter specified that four children were able to reach Ukraine on Monday, describing the operation as a “breakthrough” and a “gesture of goodwill” on the part of Russia.
The Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs affirmed for its part that the “success of the operation testifies to the credit enjoyed by Qatar with different parties (in conflict) and its continuous quest for peace and stability in the region and in the world”.
“Cooperation”
At a press conference in Moscow on Monday, Russian Children’s Commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova did not confirm the agreement, but she praised Qatar’s “mediator” role, particularly regarding the ” process of reuniting children.
“They’re trying to figure (things) out,” she said. “We hope that the cooperation will continue.”
kyiv has accused Moscow of having deported “tens of thousands” of Ukrainian children who were “kidnapped” in the occupied territories of Ukraine.
The International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant against Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ms. Lvova-Belova for the “illegal deportation” of thousands of Ukrainian children since February 2022.
Allegations rejected several times by the Russian authorities, including Ms. Lvova-Belova, who again described them on Monday as a “lie”. She also reiterated again that Moscow considered protecting these children from the conflict.
Furthermore, she refused to give at this stage the number of Ukrainian children who have arrived on Russian soil since the start of the Kremlin offensive in Ukraine more than a year and a half ago.
According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s wife, Olena Zelenska, more than 19,000 Ukrainian children have been transferred or forcibly taken to Russia or occupied regions.
Only 386 were brought back to Ukraine, she said in September.
On Monday, Ms. Lvova-Belova, for her part, assured that Moscow had received 17 requests from Ukrainian families wanting to recover their children, and that the competent Russian authorities were “working on it”.
Qatar plays the role of mediator in many international affairs. He recently favored an agreement on a prisoner exchange between the United States and Iran which includes the lifting by Washington of the freezing of six billion dollars of Iranian assets.