Foreign Ministry condemns Kremlin decree granting Russian citizenship to abducted Ukrainian children

Russian dictator Vladimir Putin‘s decree giving Russian citizenship to abducted Ukrainian children violates international law, Ukrainian legislation, and the rights of these children, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Jan. 6.

According to the Ministry, this decree is part of Russia’s broader demographic strategy to weaponize war refugees and legitimize their occupation, and the Kremlin is introducing new legislation aimed at preventing abducted Ukrainian children from returning to their homeland.

Read also: Ukraine successfully returns nearly 400 children kidnapped by Russia

However, these children remain citizens of Ukraine, and the Ukrainian authorities will continue to take all possible measures to protect their rights and freedoms, the Ministry emphasized.

“The real value of this decree is that it will serve as further evidence of Russia’s crimes against Ukraine, the forced assimilation of Ukrainian children, and the attempts to deprive them of their own homeland,” the statement reads.

The Foreign Ministry called on the International Criminal Court (ICC) to consider the actions of the Russian leadership and urging the international community to implement the ICC arrest warrant for Putin as soon as possible.

Earlier, Ukraine’s human rights ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets announced that Putin had signed Decree No. 11 on granting Russian citizenship to foreigners, including children from Ukraine.

Read also: First Lady Zelenska highlights plights of Ukraine’s children, confirms 504 dead, almost 20,000 kidnapped

The decree refers to orphans and children who lack guardians and possess Ukrainian citizenship. It allows them to be given Russian citizenship via dictatorial fiat, without taking into account “certain requirements of federal legislation.”

On March 17, 2023, the International Criminal Court in The Hague issued an arrest warrant for Russian dictator Vladimir Putin on charges of committing war crimes in connection with the abduction of Ukrainian children to Russia.

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe adopted a resolution recognizing the forced transfer of Ukrainian children to Russia as genocide on April 27.

According to the Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights, the Russians have stolen almost 20,000 children from occupied Ukrainian territories, and approximately 6,000 are being held in re-education camps.

The number of Ukrainian children illegally deported to Russia may have reached as many as 300,000, according to figures quoted by the European Parliament. MEPs believe that Russia began abducting Ukrainian children in 2014, ever since the occupation of Crimea and parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts.

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Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine