Russia says Ukraine has not provided list of allegedly abducted children

Russia’s human rights commissioner, Tatyana Moskalkova, has said that Ukraine has not provided Moscow with a list of thousands of children it alleges were taken illegally to Russia, despite the issue being discussed during talks in Istanbul.

The allegations are part of a wider international dispute.

Ukraine and Western allies have accused Russia of forcibly transferring children from conflict zones, charges denied by Moscow.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued arrest warrants for President Vladimir Putin and Russia’s children’s rights commissioner, Maria Lvova-Belova, over alleged war crimes related to unlawful child transfers.

In an interview with the Russian state news agency TASS, Moskalkova said Russian authorities had “rescued” children from active combat zones and co-operated with families that provided specific information about their children. She added that Ukraine had been asked to provide names of children it believes were taken unlawfully, but said the list had not been received.

Ukraine says it provided a list of 339 children during a trilateral meeting in Istanbul in June.

Russia later said it could not verify around 30% of the names and claimed that some listed were adults who had never been in Russia. The dispute over the numbers and the status of the children remains unresolved.

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