In addition to Putin, Russia’s children’s ombudsman was indicted by the International Criminal Court for having taken children from Donbass to Russia. It was about a few hundred. Now the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, OSCE, says that it could be “hundreds of thousands”. The NTB reproduces this without a single question. The key word is “can”, which you can hide behind and avoid being held accountable.
The word can also mean that it is a speculation. Or in other words: Propaganda.
International organisations seem to be subject to the war coalition and an instrument in their hands. It weakens trust in the organisations, not so much in the West because here there is little awareness of what is happening, but outside the West you see how the West manipulates and politises what used to be trusted international organisations.
Experts: Hundreds of thousands of children may have been taken from Ukraine, NTB-AFP
Hundreds of thousands of children may have been transported from Ukraine to Russia since 2015, say experts from Osse.
Three experts appointed by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) say it could be a massive attempt to turn Ukrainian children into Russians.
They say the children have been taken from Ukraine since 2015, the year after Russia annexed Crimea and hostilities began in eastern Ukraine.
It seems that there is a plan to assimilate them on a massive scale, says one of the Osse experts, Veronika Bilkova.
She says the exact number of children who have been transported to Russia is unclear.
The lowest estimates we have are around 20,000 children. But both Russian and Ukrainian sources indicate that the figure is ten times higher or more. So we are talking about a massive phenomenon, says Bilkova.
Arrest warrant for Putin
Russia is accused of war crimes for abducting children from occupied territories in Ukraine. An arrest warrant has been issued for President Vladimir Putin from the International Criminal Court (ICC) in connection with this.
The OSSE experts wrote in an 82-page report that Russia has taken legal and political steps to grant Russian citizenship to the children and place them in foster homes.
They also describe how the children are exposed to pro-Russian informational campaigns and receive military training.
Say they save children
The experts have collected written material and conducted more than 25 interviews, as well as visited Kyiv.
Russia has not responded to questions about contributing to the report. The country has previously denied that they abduct children, but said that they rescue children from war zones. They have also said that the children can go back and have sometimes organised return trips for children who have been transported to Russia.
According to Kyiv, more than 19,000 Ukrainian children have been sent to Russia since the full-scale invasion began last February.
This is a large grey area and leads to questions about how to define “abduction” and Russification. There is a vast range here.
But 25 interviews?