14 Russian children between the ages of 3 and 15 were returned from Syria to Russia, the press service of the Russian Presidential Commissioner for Children's Rights Maria Lvova-Belova told reporters.
"Today, as a result of a three-day visit to the territory of Syria, as well as a number of previously reached agreements, the staff of the office of the Russian presidential commissioner for children's rights returned to Russia 14 children aged from 3 to 15 years old," the press service explained.
Five of them were in shelters in Damascus, and nine more were evacuated from the refugee camps located in Trans-Euphrates, the press service of the commissioner added.
"Since January of this year, serious preparatory work was carried out by the lawyers of the office of the presidential commissioner for children's rights together with colleagues from the Russian Foreign Ministry, the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Health and other relevant agencies. For identification of Russian children and confirmation of their citizenship, they took samples and carried out DNA tests, prepared necessary packages of documents for each child for their legal return to their birth families living in Russia," the press service specified.
After arrival at the Chkalovsky airport, the children will be placed in a Moscow clinic, where they will undergo a complete medical examination, including the COVID-19 protocol. In addition, psychological support will be provided to the children. After the doctors' recommendations, the children will be taken into the custody of their relatives, the press service said.
Lvova-Belova noted that she is grateful to the leadership of Syria, representatives of the Kurdish side, employees of the Russian Embassy in Syria, the Russian Foreign Ministry, the Ministry of Defense, as well as the Russian Ministry of Health for their joint work on the search, evacuation and rehabilitation of Russian minors returned from armed conflicts zones. "It's hard to imagine what these children have gone through, what horrors and deprivations they have gone through in their little children's lives. But now we can do everything in our power to turn over this terrible page of their lives and forget it once and for all. I'm glad we were able to get another group of children back, and I'm grateful to the Syrian and Kurdish sides for honoring all our agreements. We will continue to work and make every effort to get all our children home as soon as possible," the children's ombudsman said, as quoted by the press service.
In the summer of 2017, Russia began systematic work to locate and return to their home country underage Russian citizens who are in Iraq and Syria. It is organized and carried out by order of the President of the Russian Federation. According to the press service of the children's ombudsman, since December 2018, 364 children have been returned to the territory of the Russian Federation from the zones of armed conflicts in the Middle East. At the moment, documents have been prepared for another 128 children, while there are about 1.5 thousand cases in the database of children wanted by citizens of the Russian Federation in the Middle East region, the press service added.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: Creative Commons
Based on materials from TASS