Mr. LVOVA-BELOVA DENIES ANY “DEPORTATION” OF UKRAINIAN CHILDREN
For several weeks, Kiev has been accusing Moscow of “deporting” Ukrainian children, an estimated number of at least 20,000. In March, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin on the matter, and the Hague-based tribunal did the same for Commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova.
Allegations the latter denied in an interview with American media VICE News on Monday, claiming to have nothing to hide. “It’s funny. I’m a mom. That says it all. A war criminal? What are you talking about?” she asked. However, she acknowledged that several thousand children were brought to Russia in supposed summer camps. “Of course, when the parents were offered to send them on vacation for free, everyone immediately accepted with joy. (…) These are children and parents who expressed a desire to become a great Russia,” she insisted .
She also admitted that 380 children from Russian-occupied territories are now being taken in by Russian families, and she herself said she took in a 16-year-old boy, Philip, from Mariupol, but without “an ounce of politics”. “I can therefore say with certainty that I am not ashamed of anything I do because it is all done for children and for the good of children,” pounded Russia’s children’s ombudsman.