A child who has been in Ukraine without a mother since 2019 has been returned to the Russian Federation

A child who has been in Ukraine without a mother since 2019 has returned to Russia. Qatar acted as a mediator. Nikita became the second child to return to Russia from Ukraine through the mediation of Children’s Ombudsman Maria Lvova-Belova since the beginning of the military operation.

Alexandra Zhulina met with her nine-year-old son Nikita at Vnukovo airport on the night of December 19, reports TASS. The child returned on a flight from Istanbul. He was also met at the airport by a diplomat from the Qatari embassy. “We are planning to return to Yaroslavl, everything is ready there for our son to return to school. I thank everyone who helped us bring him home,” said Mrs. Zhulina.

Nikita lived with his parents in the Yaroslavl region until 2019. In 2019, when his father died, his mother took her son to his grandmother in the Vinnitsa region of Ukraine. Later, the mother was unable to pick up the child herself due to the ban on entry of Russians.

Since the beginning of the military operation, in cooperation with Ukraine, international organizations, with the mediation of third countries and the participation of Mrs. Lvova-Belova, 48 children have returned to 35 families in Ukraine or other countries.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague in March issued arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova in the case of removing children from Ukraine to Russia. Kremlin believes this decision is void, the Russian Federation does not recognize the jurisdiction of the ICC. Moscow claims that the children who found themselves on Russian territory were evacuated from dangerous areas where fighting took place. Children’s Ombudsman repeatedly reported on the return of children to their families in Ukraine. She noted that “there are no tens, much less hundreds of thousands of children deported and detained in Russia.” According to the commissioner, 2 thousand Ukrainian orphans were evacuated to Russia due to active hostilities. Later, 1.3 thousand children returned to orphanages. The rest of the children, she said, are now in Russia and in foster families “solely with the consent of the children themselves.”