Ukrainian Intelligence Creates Database of Russians, Ukrainians Complicit in Abducting Children

Ukraine’s Main Directorate of Intelligence (HUR) has created a database of Russians and Ukrainians who were involved in abducting and forcibly deporting children from Ukraine.

HUR’s database said those listed included “everyone involved in the deportation of Ukrainian children: officials who make decisions, [and] participants of ‘re-education’ youth organizations,” among whom were officials high and low alongside public figures and Ukrainian collaborators.

The HUR called the act of illegally deporting children a form of “cultural genocide” and said “at least 20,000 Ukrainian children” have been abducted by Russia since the start of the 2022 full-scale invasion based on official data, while the number is likely much higher in reality.

The individuals being named were categorized into “organizers” and “executors” of the deportation, where the former consisted of officials involved in high-level planning and the latter consisted of officials, public figures and collaborators who supported and took part in relocating the children.

The database lists the official names of the individual, their date and place of birth, tax number, official position or occupation, and description of their involvement in the abductions.

Among the ones being named was Maria Lvova-Belova, Russia’s commissioner for children's rights who is the subject of an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) alongside Russian President Vladimir Putin for their role in abducting Ukrainian children.

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The database also included heads of local administrations and organizers of youth camps in Russia aimed at Russifiying Ukrainian children.

At the time of publication, Belarusian nationals such as Dzmitry Shautsou, head of Red Cross’s Belarusian chapter that was suspended over its role in abducting Ukrainian children, were not included in the database.

In November 2023, Kyiv Post reported that a teenager was returned to Ukraine after being forcibly deported from Mariupol to Russia and subsequently received a military summons for the Russian military.