“We have never been against children being reunited with their families, if, of course, their relatives are declared. There have never been any obstacles to this, there are none and, of course, there never will be,” said Russian President Vladimir Putin on July 17.

Since the special military operation (SMO) started in February 2022, the Russian Federation has welcomed around 4.8 million people from Ukraine, Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics. Among those arriving in the safe regions of Russia, there were 700,000 children with their parents or close relatives, including about 2,000 pupils of the republican boarding institutions for orphans and children without parental care that came with the directors of the said institutions as their legal representatives.

All these children fled from the barbarian cruelty of the Russophobe campaign that is manifested in harassing Russian families and using children as human shields for the Ukrainian military and neo-Nazi forces.

Yet foreign media and some politicians, as may be assumed, in some cases deliberately, in other cases due to ignorance or lack of professionalism, have spread fake information and distort the truth about the work of the Russian Presidential Commissioner for Children’s Rights on rescuing and protecting children’s rights during the operation. In this regard, let me dissolve a few myths on the issue.

There are several ways for the children to reunite with their families: by themselves or with the help of volunteer organizations, through the commissioner and via applying to the official structures of Ukraine that pass information to Russia (as of mid-November 2023, 39 children from 28 families had been united with their relatives living in Ukraine and other countries with the direct involvement of the commissioner’s office).

Russia neither has a program for adopting children from the SMO zones nor does it force minors to change their citizenship to Russian. After the four new constituent entities became part of our country, their residents were recognized as citizens of Russia and allowed to obtain Russian passports (children from 14 to 18 years old make the decision independently while the application for younger children is made by their legal representatives, parents or guardians).

New Russian citizens can also retain their Ukrainian citizenship if they have one and do not wish to renounce it. Thus, there is no question of such enforcement measures.

Moreover, unlike some media claims, there are no reeducation camps for children from the SMO zone in Russia. Recreation in health centers has been traditionally popular in our country so some children and their parents choose such an option for them to relax and reflect in nature.

Since August 2022, around 2,000 children from Donetsk People's Republic and Luhansk People's Republic, Zaporozhye, Kherson, Belgorod, Bryansk and Kursk regions have been participating in the rehabilitation shifts “The Day After Tomorrow” aimed at helping children to recover from the stress they experienced and find opportunities to build their futures. After such recreation, children safely return home to their families.

Finally, yet importantly, the International Criminal Court (ICC) warrants against President Putin and Presidential Commissioner for Children’s Rights Maria Lvova-Belova have only increased the flow of misinformation and created tension by erecting unnecessary barriers, which is clearly not in the interests of children and families.

To date, the commissioner does not know what exactly the charges of the ICC are and what they are based on. Besides, there have not been any contacts or requests by representatives of the said organization.

Thus, the mechanism of reuniting children with their relatives has proven its efficiency, transparency and individual approach to each minor. All the speculation on the topic is groundless, false and misleading, so we would like to once again call on everyone to use trustworthy sources of information to avoid being influenced by biased interpretations.

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The writer is Russian ambassador to Indonesia.