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The Russification that took place during the Soviet era was not as horrific as the one carried out by the Russian and Belarusian regimes today, forcibly taking children from Ukrainian families and destroying their roots.
This was stated by Vice-President of the European Parliament Robert Ziele during a speech at the international conference “Russia’s War on Children” in Riga, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.
Ziele noted that Putin’s plan is to make people in the temporarily occupied territories become Russian citizens, including mentally.
“During the Soviet era, Russification also took place, but it was not as horrific as it is now, when children are taken away from their families. Those who are implementing this plan (Putin’s – ed.) aim to capture the minds of younger generations. But if the family lives together, it is more difficult to implement, because even after talking in the kitchen, as we did in Latvia during the Soviet occupation, as soon as the opportunity arose, we immediately regained our independence. That is why these regimes (of Russia and Belarus – ed.) decided to do as much as possible to destroy the roots and memories of the (abducted – ed.) children about Ukraine,” said the Vice President of the European Parliament.
According to him, the issuance of arrest warrants by the International Criminal Court for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Children’s Ombudsman Maria Lvova-Belova opens up new opportunities for the European Parliament to exert political pressure.
He also recalled that the European Parliament has allocated €120 million to support children separated from their families and taken from Ukraine.
“I think that the next European Parliament will continue this support,” Ziele predicted.
As reported by Ukrinform, the Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights Dmytro Lubinets said that Russia does not provide any data on Ukrainian children who were taken there, including their whereabouts.
In March, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Children’s Ombudsman Maria Lvova-Belova. They are accused of war crimes in the form of illegal deportation and displacement of people, including children, from the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine.
As The Gaze previously wrote, Russia’s actions against Ukrainian children and violations of their rights by the Russian occupiers during the full-scale aggression should be unconditionally considered by the future Tribunal for the Crime of Russian Aggression against Ukraine and the International Criminal Court.
As of the end of December 2023, Russia has abducted nearly 20,000 Ukrainian children.
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