Distort the name and hide: the Russian Federation works for adoption of stolen Ukrainian children - the media

Financial Times journalists have decided to investigate the mechanism of Russian military crimes against Ukrainian children. To do this, they studied the Russian adoption portal, which contains photos, names and orphans. After that, they turned to the Ukrainian system, which registered children who disappeared in the occupied territories. They then used the image recognition program.

As a result, four Ukrainians aged 8 to 15 were found, which the Russian authorities suggested to adopt Russian citizens. The search system of the adoption portal does not indicate the origin of children. In addition, the Russians reworked their names: they wrote them in Russian transcription or altered completely. In addition, even age was not properly indicated. Journalists worked manually so that there were no mistakes. "There is none of the children about Ukrainian origin.

False names and age of children meant that it would be difficult to find them in other ways," journalists said. One of the search results was posted in the FT article: it is a screenshot of a page with a blurred photo of the child, so it is unclear whether the boy is or a girl. The description states that the Russian authorities invite the child to adopt or care.

Children were found in different regions of the Russian Federation - in the Tula region north of Moscow, in the Orenburg region (not far from Kazakhstan). Another child was in the occupied Crimea. When their photos were shown to Ukrainian law enforcement officers, parents and relatives, it turned out that all the victims - from one orphanage in Kherson and have a family.

Parents and relatives of the stolen persons did not want to explain something in public, because they will be afraid that they would never see children then. The FT portal described that Ukrainian children were experiencing, being in the Russian Federation. According to a 15-year-old girl who was able to save, they are forced to listen to Russian propaganda, forbidden to speak Ukrainian, submit "verbal and physical violence".

According to the President of the International Humanitarian Law Firm Global Rights Compliment Wayne Jordash, such actions qualify as war crimes and humanity crimes. It should be noted that on the Russian adoption portal you can search for children in the areas of the Russian Federation and in the occupied territories. No child from the occupied parts of Kharkiv, Zaporizhia, Luhansk, Donetsk regions was not found. Instead, there are almost 200 minors who are offered to adopt in Crimea.

Earlier, Focus wrote that the International Criminal Court in the spring of 2023 reacted to mass abduction of Ukrainian children. In this regard, they issued a warrant for the arrest of the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin and the Commissioner for the Rights of Children Maria Lviv-Belova. In Ukraine, in the meantime, it was confirmed that about 20,000 minors were taken to the Russian Federation, while 389 were recalled.