Free the kidnapped Ukrainian children
This post is also available in: Norsk bokmål Русский Українська
Several thousand Ukrainian children have been taken away from their Ukrainian parents and sent to Russia. Set the kidnapped children free, is the demand from Ukraine. Many of them have been adopted to Russian parents. We do not know how many this is about, but the number is several thousand. The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued two arrest warrants this spring. Both were aimed at forced adoption of Ukrainian children. Those who received arrest warrants are Russian President Vladimir Putin and Commissioner for Children’s Rights in Russia Maria Lvova-Belova.
Kidnapped child an ethnic cleansing
Russia openly adopts Ukrainian children. Russian families are paid to adopt them. Thousands of children have new Russian parents. Other children are in camps, waiting for their adoptive families and in the meantime are being “Russified”.
This practice joins the ranks of deliberate ethnic cleansing. In a meeting with several African leaders, Vladimir Putin claimed that Russia protects children. It is quite clear that he defines Ukrainian, language and culture as something the children must be protected from.
Putin’s goal
Putin’s goal with the ethnic cleansing we see in the occupied parts of Ukraine is pretty clear. It will erase all traces of Ukrainian culture and language. We’ve seen something similar before. Not least during World War II. Hitler’s attempt to wipe out the Jews and the Roma was ethnic cleansing and genocide.
No one has the right to take children away from their parents for ethnic or political reasons. No one has the right to provide a child with a new home in order to “protect the child” from unwanted ethnic, political and linguistic influences. Putin’s attempt to Russify Ukrainian society is a war crime. Release the Ukrainian children immediately. History will view Putin’s practices as abhorrent.