Russian MPs behind abduction of Ukrainian orphans from Kherson Oblast – hromadske
Ukrainian collaborators and members of Russia’s State Duma parliament participated in the abduction of Ukrainian orphans from an orphanage in Kherson in 2022, Ukrainian news outlet hromadske reported on June 30.
The news outlet referred to documents seen by its investigative journalists.
Read also: Genocide by abduction: Russians planning to abduct Luhansk Oblast children to Russia – NRC
The Office of the Prosecutor General pressed charges on June 30 against three individuals for the abduction of 46 orphans from the Kherson Children's Home on Oct. 21, 2022, and two more children in September 2022.
A collaborator, the so-called acting director of the Children's Home, who was illegally "appointed" by the occupation administration, Tetiana Zavalska, and the former head of the occupation health department in Kherson Oblast, Vadym Ilmiyev, are suspected of organizing the crime.
Russian State Duma member Igor Kastiukevich was also charged with kidnapping orphans under the age of five. He posted videos of the abducted children on his Telegram account.
hromadske investigators got hold of documents granting powers of attorney for the abduction of two orphans signed by Zavalska and Ilmiyev. One of them is registered to Yana Lantratova, a member of the Russian parliament, who, according to journalists, has been involved in the illegal abduction of Ukrainian children to Russia since at least 2015.
Another power of attorney was issued for a Muscovite, Inna Varlamova, who, according to journalists, works for the Russian Federal Security Service or FSB.
News agency Reuters earlier reported that Ukrainian law enforcement officials have charged a Russian politician and two collaborators with war crimes over the deportation of dozens of orphans from Kherson Oblast.
The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants on March 17 for Russian dictator Vladimir Putin and Russia’s children’s ombudsperson, Maria Lvova-Belova, for their involvement in the unlawful removal of children from Ukraine to the Russian Federation since Feb. 24, 2022.
Read also: Papal envoy meets Russian ombudsperson wanted by ICC for abducting Ukrainian children
On April 27, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe adopted a resolution recognizing the forced transfer of Ukrainian children to Russia as genocide.
The Russians have taken more than 19,500 Ukrainian children from the territories they have occupied, according to the Ukrainian authorities
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Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
