How the Kremlin twists the truth: Russian propaganda and the stolen children of Ukraine

Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine created the very combat zones from which Ukrainian children had to be evacuated. The problem is that evacuations from conflict zones, especially of children, must comply with international humanitarian law. In particular, Article 78 of the Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions stipulates that children cannot be transferred to a country other than their own and their parents must consent to any evacuation. Russia has failed to comply with these rules

 

Author: Ana Anastasovska 

 

Last week, the following post spread among users of the social network Facebook:

 

Melania Trump: Putin responded to my letter, Ukrainian children have returned to their families.

At first glance, it gives the impression that Russian President Vladimir Putin has returned all the kidnapped Ukrainian children to their families, which certainly caused a sense of admiration among some followers.

Yes, Putin didn’t kill the children like Netanyahu. He returned the children home to their families alive and well. But what does he have to say about the murdered children of Palestine and the genocide that the Palestinian people are suffering, what kind of letter will he send to Netanyahu, those children will never return to their families. Send a letter to Netanyahu, but with a condemnation of the genocide against the children, the elderly, and the women of Palestine, reads one of the comments.

But when you open the news post, you will see that it is about “some of them” (meaning children), although according to Ukraine, Russia kidnapped tens of thousands of children during the war.

As Radio Free Europe reports, there are eight children involved.

In a White House address, she (Melania Trump) said that eight children had been reunited with their families in the last 24 hours following negotiations between her and Putin’s team.

Mass cases of forced transfer of children

During the war that Russia launched with its invasion of Ukraine, one of the most difficult issues has been the situation of children–those who have either been transferred from the occupied territories, or taken directly to Russia or areas under Russian control. In this context, Ukrainian authorities, international organizations, and the media report mass cases of forced transfers, “Russification,” and temporary or permanent separation from families.

According to a report by the Yale Humanitarian Research Lab (Yale HRL), more than 19,000 children have been taken from Ukraine to Russia or territories occupied by Russia since the start of the full-scale invasion.

Media sources indicate that the number could be significantly higher–hundreds of thousands of children are mentioned as possible victims.

The goal is not only physical transfer, but also “Russification:” separation from Ukrainian identity, use of the Russian language, renaming, changing documents. Part of the program also involves, according to some reports, participation in military or paramilitary activities, or preparation for them. For example: children are integrated into Russian youth patriotic organizations and receive military training.

On March 17, 2023, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russia’s Presidential Commissioner for Children’s Rights Maria Lvova-Belova, for “the illegal transfer of children from the occupied territories of Ukraine to Russia.”

Parliaments and states classify these actions as possibly genocidal–the deprivation of a child’s identity, culture, and future.

Kremlin spin-masters persist in covering up the truth 

Adhering to a grim but familiar pattern, Kremlin spin-masters and disinformation spreaders add absurdity to atrocity by projecting their sins onto Ukraine and Western countries, EUvsDisinfo writes.

The first tactic, a blunt but dependable weapon, is simply to deny everything and to endlessly repeat that denial. This rejection of the obvious can bleed quickly into laughable rationalizations. So a commentator might claim that the 20,000 Ukrainian children abducted by Russia and forced to learn Russian in Russian schools are comparable to Ukrainian children learning German in Germany, as if Russia’s full-scale invasion had not forced Ukrainians to flee to that country.

The Kremlin’s second tactic is to claim that children have been “evacuated from combat zones” for their own safety. Russian media outlets show scenes of children receiving food, playing in summer camps, and enrolling in schools–creating the impression that Russia is a humanitarian savior.

Russia’s FIMI campaigns occasionally claim that Moscow is working hard to unite children with their families through mediators including Qatar and the Red Cross. The Russian branch of the Red Cross is a deeply suspect organization that narrowly avoided suspension by the International Red Cross last year. EUvsDisinfo points out in its analysis.

Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine created the very combat zones from which Ukrainian children had to be evacuated. The problem is that evacuations from conflict zones, especially of children, must comply with international humanitarian law. In particular, Article 78 of the Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions stipulates that children cannot be transferred to a country other than their own and their parents must consent to any evacuation.

Russia has not followed any of these rules. Instead, Russian authorities and military personnel have taken children without their parents’ consent, forcibly transferred them to Russia, and prevented family reunification in all but a few cases, EUvsDisinfo reports.

The truth and the facts still exist

Despite Russia’s denials and false narratives, the truth and the facts exist. Russian forces are kidnapping innocent children, putting them up for adoption, erasing their identities, and training some of them to fight in the war.

Last month, thirty-eight countries, along with the Council of Europe and the EU, called on Russia to immediately and unconditionally return the Ukrainian children. On the sidelines of the 80th UN General Assembly, Ukraine and Canada held a high-level summit of the International Coalition for the Return of Ukrainian Children, an initiative that the EU joined the same day to highlight the issue and maintain pressure on Russia to end its barbaric practice of abducting young people from another country.

 

 

 

All comments and remarks regarding this and other Vistinomer articles, correction and clarification requests as well as suggestions for fact-checking politicians’ statements and political parties’ promises can be submitted by using this form