Putin to grant Russian citizenship to Ukrainian children: Ukraine's ombudsman strongly reacts
Dmytro Lubinets, the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Ukrainian Parliament (Photo: facebook.com)
Russian dictator Vladimir Putin has signed a decree granting Russian citizenship to Ukrainian children. In Ukraine, this is considered one form of genocide, says Dmytro Lubinets, the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Ukrainian Parliament.
The granting of Russian citizenship to Ukrainian children
On Thursday, January 4th, Russian dictator Vladimir Putin signed a decree titled "On determining certain categories of foreign citizens and stateless persons entitled to apply for Russian Federation citizenship."
It states that orphaned children and those without parental care, who are citizens of Ukraine, may obtain Russian citizenship based on Putin's personal decision, regardless of all or some requirements of federal legislation. The application for such citizenship can be filed by the heads of Russian organizations where the child is under supervision.
The application form includes the applicant's place of residence, contact information, and only the address and contacts of the applicant's workplace, which could disappear at any moment.
Reaction from Ukraine
According to Lubinets, granting Russian citizenship to children is done so that deported Ukrainian children are "legally" not left on their territory.
It follows that for deported Ukrainian children residing in Russian institutions or in Russian families under care, applications for Russian citizenship can be submitted by Russian citizens. And Putin, accordingly, will approve such applications without any requirements.
"We understand the dire consequences of such actions because the next step after receiving 'Russian citizenship' will be the adoption of these children as Russians, and then the change of their personal data. At one moment, there may not be any Ukrainian children left in Russia because all of them within the next 3 months could become Russians," Lubinets writes.
A Ukrainian 12-year-old child died in a train in Russia
A 12-year-old girl from Ukraine died in the Russian city of Tyumen. The occupiers sent her there for rest in a children's camp.
The girl was returning by train to the occupied Luhansk region from Tyumen with other children. She supposedly traveled there for rehabilitation. However, the girl felt unwell on the train on the way home. It is known that the 12-year-old girl from Luhansk lost consciousness on the train and could not be saved.
Russia's kidnapping of children
Since the start of the full-scale war, Russia has systematically taken Ukrainian children to the occupied Crimea, Belarus, or remote regions of Russia.
As of January 1, 2024, since the start of the full-scale invasion, Russia has killed 514 Ukrainian children. However, these are not final figures.
Earlier, we reported that due to the illegal deportation of children, the International Criminal Court in The Hague issued an arrest warrant for dictator Vladimir Putin and Russia's child rights representative Maria Lvova-Belova.
