More Ukrainian kids from Ukraine’s Russia-held areas arrive in Belarus regardless of world outrage
TALLINN, Estonia — Belarus‘ authoritarian president on Thursday attended a government-organized meeting with children brought from Russia-controlled areas of Ukraine, openly defying an international outrage over his country’s involvement in Moscow‘s deportation of Ukrainian children.
Speaking at the event marking the arrival of a new group of Ukrainian children ahead of the New Year holiday, President Alexander Lukashenko vowed to “embrace these children, bring them to our home, keep them warm and make their childhood happier.”
Belarusian officials did not say how many Ukrainian children were brought into the country.
A recent study by Yale University has found that more than 2,400 Ukrainian children aged 6-17 have been brought to Belarus from four Ukrainian regions that have been partially occupied by Russian forces. The Belarusian opposition has urged the International Criminal Court to hold Lukashenko and his officials accountable for their involvement in the illegal transfer of Ukrainian children.
Pavel Latushka, a former Belarusian culture minister turned opposition activist who has presented the ICC with evidence of Lukashenko‘s alleged involvement in the unlawful deportation of the children, said the arrival of a new group from Russia-occupied territories “underlines the need for the ICC to investigate those crimes.”
“Lukashenko, his family members and associates together with the Kremlin have organized a system of transfer of Ukrainian children, including orphans, from the occupied territories to Belarus, and this channel is still working,” Latushka told The Associated Press.
In March, the ICC issued arrest warrants for both Russian President Vladimir Putin and his children’s rights commissioner, Maria Lvova-Belova, accusing them of the conflict crimes of illegal deportation of kids and illegal switch of kids from occupied areas of Ukraine to Russia. Moscow has rejected the allegations.
Ukraine‘s human rights ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets said in televised remarks Thursday that the transfer of thousands of Ukrainian children to Belarus helped Moscow cover up the information about the unlawful deportation of children.
Earlier this month, the International Red Cross suspended the organization’s Belarusian chapter after its chief, Dzmitry Shautsou, stirred worldwide outrage for boasting that it was actively ferrying Ukrainian kids from Russian-controlled areas to Belarus.
Shautsou known as the transfer “absolutely politicized,” claiming that Ukrainian kids who visited Belarus for “health improvement” returned house safely.
Belarus has been Moscow’s closest ally because the Russian invasion of Ukraine started in February 2022, when Lukashenko allowed the Kremlin to make use of his nation’s territory to invade Ukraine. Russia has additionally deployed a few of its tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus.
