Ukrainian children are allegedly being 'abducted' and illegally adopted by Russian families

Kyiv has claimed that Moscow is organising illegal mass adoptions of Ukrainian children. Ukraine’s foreign ministry said in a statement, as reported by The Guardian:

The Russian Federation continues to abduct children from the territory of Ukraine and arrange their illegal adoption by Russian citizens.

US think tank The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) cited a now-deleted Russian government post that revealed Russia is paying families to adopt Ukrainian children brought into the country, as reported by Newsweek.

Illegal mass adoptions

An archived version of the post by the Russian federal subject (region) Krasnodar Krai's Family and Childhood Administration describes a program where Russian authorities transferred more than 1,000 children from Mariupol to Tyumen, Irkutsk, Kemerovo, and Altay Krai. Indeed, according to the statement from Ukraine's foreign ministry:

More than 1,000 children from Mariupol were illegally transferred to outsiders in Tyumen, Irkutsk, Kemerovo and Altai Krai.

The post by the Russian regional government also stated that:

More than 300 babies are temporarily kept in specialized institutions of the Krasnodar Territory and are looking forward to meeting their new families.

Paid $342 per child

In addition, citizens who choose to adopt them will receive a one-time payment by the state under federal law. According to the post, from February this year—the month Russia invaded Ukraine— a lump sum 'allowance' of 20,472.77 rubles ($342) will be given for each adopted child.

Ukraine's foreign ministry claims Russia's actions 'grossly violate the 1949 Geneva convention' that establishes international legal standards for humanitarian treatment in war, and also the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. According to The Guardian, it has demanded that 'all Ukrainian children, who were illegally displaced to the territory of Russia, be returned to their parents or legal guardians.'

The ISW also pointed out, as per Newsweek, that the forcible transfer of children from one group to another 'with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group' is a violation of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.

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