Moscow - Russia's children's rights commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova, who is wanted by the Hague-based International Criminal Court (ICC) for the "deportation" of Ukrainian children, said on Tuesday she was ready to send children back to Ukraine if their families request it.
Ukraine accuses Russia of having "stolen" more than 16 000 children since the start of its military offensive more than a year ago.
Russia says it is "saving" the children from combat zones and that it has a procedure in place for them to be reunited with their families.
Last month, the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Lvova-Belova and Russian President Vladimir Putin for the "unlawful deportation" of Ukrainian children.
During a press conference on Tuesday, Lvova-Belova said she had not been contacted by "any representative of the Ukrainian authorities" about the deported children since the start of the conflict.
She said parents could write her an email to look for the children.
"Write to me... to find your child," she said.
Russia has accepted more than five million refugees from Ukraine's Donbas region, including 730 000 children, since February 2022, Reuters reported Lvova-Belova as saying yesterday. She said that the children came with their parents or guardians.
Lvova-Belov told a Moscow news conference that her commission was not aware of a single case of a child from eastern Ukraine being separated from their blood relatives and being transferred to a foster home.
According to a report published by her office on Tuesday, 16 children from nine families have been reunited with their Ukrainian relatives since March 29, AFP reported.
She refused to publish a complete list of Ukrainian children brought to Russia.
According to the commission’s report, 380 Ukrainian orphans have been placed in foster families in Russia, including 22 minors found abandoned in Mariupol – a port city that was almost razed before its capture by Russian forces last year.
Lvova-Belova said adopted children were given Russian nationality while keeping their Ukrainian one.
She said one who was teenager brought to Russia from Mariupol had been stopped at the Belarus border as he tried to return to Ukraine.
She said he had been "lured back to the territory of Ukraine by manipulations and threats".
AFP was not able to verify this account.
Russia has dismissed the ICC's warrant of arrest for Putin and Lvova-Belova as "void" as it is not a member of the ICC.
AFP and Reuters
