Russia announces agreement with Ukraine to exchange 48 children displaced by war

Maria Lvova-Belova, the Russian commissioner in charge of children’s rights, announced on Wednesday an agreement with Ukraine on the exchange of 48 children displaced by the war, at the end of a first meeting between Russian and Ukrainian officials on this subject, in Qatar, a country that mediates between Kiev and Moscow in this case, reports AFP.

“As a result, 29 children will return to Ukraine and 19 to Russia,” Lvova-Belova told the media, without giving more details about the minors in question.

Maria Lvova-Belova, like Russian President Vladimir Putin, is subject to an international arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) from March 2023.

The international court accuses, like Ukraine, that thousands of Ukrainian children from the territories occupied by the Russian army were not displaced by the fighting, but knowingly deported by Russia.

Accusations vehemently rejected by Moscow, which instead claims that in this way it protects children from armed confrontations.

The Russian authorities also state that they have established a special program for these children, some being sent to camps where the emphasis is on patriotic education.

Last month, four more Ukrainian children were repatriated from Russia, also with the mediation of Qatar, after a similar operation in February that involved 11 children.

Ukraine estimates at least 20,000 minors from occupied Ukrainian areas forcibly sent to Russia, but their total number could be much higher, as this figure only includes officially identified children.

Fewer than 400 of these children have so far been repatriated to Ukraine, according to Kyiv.

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