The United States said on Monday it does not know whether children taken from the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine to Russia and Belarus are subjected to any kind of exploitation, but it continues to monitor this issue very closely, TURAN's Washington correspondent reports.
"Belarus is complicit in Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine. It is not a disinterested third country providing safe haven for children in conflict," State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller told a daily briefing when responding to TURAN's questions.
Last week, the State Department-supported Conflict Observatory reported that more than 2,400 children from Ukraine aged between 6-17 have been taken to 13 facilities across Belarus since Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Yale University researchers found that more than 2,000 children were transported to the Dubrava children's centre in Belarus' Minsk region between September 2022 and May 2023. Another 392 children were taken to 12 other facilities.
"I did note that report.. It documented close coordination between Russian and Belarusian officials to facilitate these movements," Miller told TURAN's correspondent.
"These operations have disproportionately targeted vulnerable children, including purported orphans, children with disabilities, children from low-income families, and children with members of Ukraine’s military," he said.
The spokesperson went on to add, "Our information is limited. We don’t know whether the children who are deported to Russia or Belarus are being exploited further, but they remain highly vulnerable, of course, to human trafficking. So it is a matter that we continue to monitor very closely in making all of the range of assessments that you would expect us to make."
Politics
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On January 23, the Deputy Commander of the Azerbaijani Ground Forces, Ilgar Latifov, met with a Pakistani delegation headed by the Director General of Military Operations, Abdullah Kashif. The parties discussed the state and prospects for the development of military cooperation between Azerbaijan and Pakistan, as well as the importance of increasing the intensity of joint exercises.
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The announcement of 2025 as the "Year of the Constitution and Sovereignty" in Azerbaijan has sparked rumors and speculation about the government's plans to hold a constitutional referendum this year. Today's statement in the Milli Majlis by the head of the parliamentary committee on human rights and concurrently the director of the Center for Humanitarian Studies, Zahid Oruj, confirmed that these expectations are not groundless.
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As part of the peace process with Azerbaijan, Armenia has proposed solutions to all agenda issues, stated Armen Grigoryan, Secretary of Armenia's Security Council, on January 23. "We are not asking for peace, we are offering peaceful solutions to all existing issues. For the two unresolved points, we have sent proposals and are waiting for a response from the Azerbaijani side. We hope that we will find solutions," Grigoryan said, according to Armenian media. Meanwhile, the press service of Azerbaijan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs told Turan that "negotiations on the text of the peace agreement are ongoing."
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On January 23, Hilal Mammadov, a member of the Board of the Public Council of Talysh of Azerbaijan (OSTA), was interrogated by the State Security Service (SGB) as a witness in the case of researcher Igbal Abilov, who is accused of treason. As reported by Turan, Mammadov was questioned about Abilov's activities, scientific works, and publications.
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