Thousands Of Ukrainian Children Forced Into Network of Russian Camps, U.S. Report Finds

Washington D.C./15.02.23/Turan:   The Russian government is operating a sprawling network of dozens of camps as part of a systematic effort to relocate, re-educate, and sometimes militarily train or forcibly adopt out thousands of children from Ukraine, according to an independent study by the State Department-funded Conflict Observatory of the Yale Humanitarian Research Lab, TURAN's Washington correspondent reports.

The new report contains disturbing new details by documenting around 6,000 Ukrainian children — ranging in age from 4 months old to 17 – who have been in Russian custody at some point during the course of the nearly year-long war, although the “total number of children is not known and is likely significantly higher than 6,000,” according to the authors. Arrivals to these facilities began last February; the most recent transfers occurred last month.

“All levels of Russia’s government are involved,” Yale Humanitarian Research Lab’s Nathaniel Raymond told TURAN's Washington correspondent during a virtual briefing organized by the State Department's Washington Press Center.

The total number of children potentially forcibly transferred to Russia and Russian-occupied territories is "likely much higher," even in the several hundred thousand, said Caitlin Howarth, the Conflict Observatory's director of operations.

The researchers have identified 43 facilities that are a part of the network, which stretches from one end of Russia to the other, including Russian-occupied Crimea, and Siberia.  Among the camps, 12 are clustered around the Black Sea, 7 are in occupied Crimea, and 10 are clustered around the cities of Moscow, Kazan, and Yekaterinburg. 11 of the camps are located over 500 miles from Ukraine’s border with Russia, including two camps in Siberia and one in Russia’s Far East.

At least 32 of the facilities identified in the report “appear to be engaged in systematic re-education efforts that expose children from Ukraine to Russia-centric academic, cultural, patriotic, and in two cases, specifically military education,” according to authors. Some were deemed to be “orphans” and placed with Russian families.

The study’s authors added that the actions described in the report are a violation of the Geneva Convention — which prohibits the change of a child’s personal status, including nationality — and may constitute a war crime or crimes against humanity.

The report also identified several dozen federal, regional, and local figures directly engaged in operating and politically justifying the program,” and “at least 12 of these individuals are not on currently U.S. and/or international sanction lists.”

Asked by TURAN's correspondent whether Putin personally was responsible for this crime, Raymond said the followings:

"Vladimir Putin, as the president of Russia, underneath international war crimes law – the law of armed conflict – has responsibility for what officials who directly report to him and officials at lower levels and independent civil society actors are doing.  So he bears clear command and control responsibility whether or not this is being done by proxies acting in the name of Russia"

State Department spokesperson Ned Price in his turn told a daily press briefing that Russia’s system of forced relocation, reeducation and adoption of Ukraine’s children is "a key element of the Kremlin’s systematic efforts to deny and suppress Ukraine’s identity, its history and its culture.”

“The devastating impacts of Russia’s failing war of aggression will be felt for generations to come,” he said.

Asked by TURAN whether the Department was planning to sanctions 12 identified individuals who directly engaged in operating the program, Price said, "we are always looking for individuals who may be responsible for war crimes and atrocities in Ukraine.”

"Just because we have not sanctioned an individual to date says nothing about any future action that we may take," he added.

The full version of the 35-page report can be found here: https://hub.conflictobservatory.org/portal/sharing/rest/content/items/97f919ccfe524d31a241b53ca44076b8/data

Alex Raufoglu