Russian war criminals involved in the forced deportation and militarization of Ukrainian children: goals, personalities, forms of involvement

Throughout the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, Russians commit war crimes against the Ukrainian people, with an explicit genocidal character, almost daily. One of the largest criminal processes is the mass deportation of Ukrainians from the occupied territories, especially the cynical abduction of children for the purpose of their forced transfer to the territory of the Russian Federation, and then the subsequent Russification and militarization of these children. 

It would seem that these processes are not accidental. It is, therefore, important to understand that they are not simply carried out by the Russian military in the occupied territories. Rather, they are a consistent process of crime involving the highest Russian leadership. The Russian authorities have systematically prepared for the mass deportation of Ukrainian children, establishing an extensive system for their placement and detention within the Russian Federation, including the so-called temporary accommodation centers. These efforts aim to eradicate their Ukrainian identity through forced Russification and militarization.

The main targets of such crimes are:

• the abduction of Ukrainian children aims to forcibly re-educate them, erasing their Ukrainian identity and subjecting them to militarization. By involving them in paramilitary structures like the “Yunarmiya,” the goal is to groom a future generation for potential armed aggression against Ukraine.
• Illegal passportization of Ukrainian children, granting them Russian citizenship and other documents related to education according to Russian standards;
• adoption of children, and change of their identification data to address the negative demographic situation in the Russian Federation.

Senior civil servants of the Russian Federation, particularly Maria Lvova-Belova, the “Commissioner” for Children’s Rights under the President, are deeply involved in these criminal processes. For 2024, 420,000 euros from the Russian state budget have been allocated to her office for these activities. Lvova-Belova, who has close ties to President Vladimir Putin’s administration, regularly meets with him to discuss the issue of deported Ukrainian children. Her rhetoric and reports provide manipulative justifications, framing the abduction and deportation of Ukrainian children as mere ‘evacuation.” This close connection explains the substantial funding allocated to her office.

Putin and Maria-Lyova Belova. Photo source: Kremlin.ru

It is worth noting that other Russian top officials, regional governors, and senior military officials are also involved in these criminal processes. In particular, there are even specific facts of Russian officials taking “patronage” over the occupied territories. In particular, the governor of the Murmansk region, Andriy Chibis, took control over the occupied Prymorskyi district of Zaporizhzhia region. The Russian official has already visited the occupied Zaporizhzhia region several times, visited children in educational institutions, and “congratulated them on the accession of a part of the region to the Russian Federation, inviting them to visit the Murmansk region”. The outcomes of Chibis’s visits to this region of occupied Ukraine are highly concerning. The Murmansk governor is directly involved in the illegal deportation of Ukrainian children from the occupied territories to the Russian Federation, leading to international sanctions against him for these criminal activities. Already in September 2022, Andriy Chibis met 11 children who had been deported from the territory of Ukraine at the Murmansk airport. It is also known that in the summer of 2023, Andriy Chibis actually financed the deportation of Ukrainian children from the occupied Zaporizhzhia region to summer camps in the Krasnodar Territory from the budget of the Murmansk region. 

Another Russian governor implicated in the mass deportations of Ukrainian children, closely associated with Russian “ombudsman” Maria Lvova-Belova, is Andrei Travnikov, the governor of the Novosibirsk region. The focus of this official’s careful attention is orphans who are being deported from the occupied parts of Luhansk and Donetsk regions. Thus, in October 2022, 24 deported Ukrainian children from the occupied Luhansk region were brought to the region.

Novosibirsk Region Governor Andrei Travnikov and Russian “ombudsman” Maria Lvova-Belova. Photo source: vn.ru.

It should be noted that Governor Travnikov also “supervises” the occupied Ukrainian regions, namely the occupied Bilovodsk district of Luhansk region. Russian media reports that in the summer of 2023, the region will host about 99 children from the sponsored Bilovodsk district of the Luhansk People’s Republic and 46 children from the Donetsk People’s Republic. It is extremely difficult to identify these children for the purpose of their return, and the Russian media conceal this information as much as possible. For these criminal actions, Governor Travnikov should face international sanctions from the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, the European Union, and Ukraine. 

Another governor of the Kaluga region of the Russian Federation, Vladislav Shapsha, actively visits the occupied parts of Ukraine to deport Ukrainian children from Donetsk region, including athletes, to the territory of the Russian Federation. In addition, he actively campaigned for the so-called “accession” of the occupied territories to the Russian Federation and participated in the Russian government’s vote to create the United Russia party in the occupied territories of Ukraine. The fact that this is a deliberate Russian policy is evidenced by the documents of the so-called “DPR” – a terrorist quasi-entity in the occupied Donetsk region.

Resolution on the departure of children for recreation in the Russian Federation.
Photo source: War and Sanctions 2024. GUR.GOV.UA.

From this document of the so-called “DPR” it becomes clear that already in 2022, the collaborators, together with Russian officials, built a systematic policy of mass transfer of Ukrainian children from the occupied Donetsk region to the territory of the Russian Federation (in this case, to the Moscow region of the Russian Federation). Although these settlements are part of Ukraine, the Russian authorities, along with their terrorist affiliates, typically did not coordinate the lists of children being taken to Russia for so-called “rehabilitation.” This lack of coordination underscores the true and concealed objective of these actions: the mass deportation of Ukrainian children.

Another high-ranking Russian official involved in the deportation of Ukrainian children and young athletes is Dyumin Alexei, the former governor of the Tula region, colonel general of the Russian army, and currently the secretary of the State Council of the Russian Federation. He is also implicated in the adoption of Ukrainian orphans. Russian media reports that at least 100 children taken from the occupied Donetsk region will be transferred to Russian families.

Another very dangerous factor is the forced militarization of Ukrainian children with the assistance of high-ranking Russian military officials. This is especially true for children who have been forcibly removed from the occupied territories of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts. In addition to their involvement in paramilitary organizations such as the Young Army, they are even taken to training at the Vladimir Putin Russian University of Special Forces, which logically implies that they are cynically planned to be used as a future mobilization reserve for the Russian army. For example, on the first anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, namely September 2, 2022, the Chechen news agency Grozny Inform reported on a meeting at the Ministry of National Policy, Foreign Affairs, Press and Information of the Chechen Republic, where plans to accept “200 difficult children aged 14 to 18” were discussed. The meeting took place after an agreement between Kadyrov and Russian Presidential Ombudsman Maria Lvova-Belova. According to the news agency, Chechnya planned to receive 140 children from all over Russia, including 30 from the “DPR” and 30 from the “LPR”. 

The Ministry of National Policy, Foreign Relations, Press and Information of the Chechen Republic hosted a meeting of a working group to plan a trip to the Chechen Republic for 200 “difficult adolescents” aged 14 to 18, who are registered with various types of authorities, from different regions of the Russian Federation and Donbas. Photo source: Grozny Inform.

On November 14, 2022, the website of the Russian Presidential Ombudsman for Children’s Rights reported that many children would participate in a “recreation camp” (health camp) in Chechnya from November 13 to 19, 2022. It was noted that the camp was organized under the auspices of the national program “Teenagers of Russia” and the local military-patriotic shift “Power of the Caucasus,” where children “get acquainted with positive-minded people and traditions of our republic and participate in sports, cultural and military-patriotic events.” Notably, the camp program includes combat and military training, and the children will also visit the Russian Special Forces University in Gudermes.

To summarize, the primary task of the international community and Ukrainian society is to immediately halt these brutal war crimes and hold all involved Russian officials legally and economically accountable. The current criminal policies of the Russian Federation pose a threat not only to European countries but to the entire world. Therefore, the active involvement of leading Asian countries is crucial in the international community’s joint efforts. Systematic assistance from international partners and a balanced approach to diplomatic pressure on Russia is essential to stopping the aggression of the Russian Federation and ending these crimes in Ukraine.