Russia has placed at least 6,000 Ukrainian children – possibly many more – in Russian-held Crimea and sites in Russia whose primary purpose appears to be political re-education, according to a US-backed report published Tuesday.
The report said researchers at Yale University have identified at least 43 camps and other facilities where Ukrainian children have been held as part of a “large-scale systematic network” operated by Moscow since the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine. were part of.
The children included those with parents or clear familial guardianship whom Russia considered orphans, others who had been in the care of Ukrainian state institutions before the invasion and whose custody was unclear or uncertain because of the war, it said.
“The primary purpose of the camp facilities we have identified is political re-education,” Nathaniel Raymond, one of the researchers, told reporters at a briefing.
The report states that some children were taken through the system and adopted by Russian families, or transferred to foster care in Russia.
Raymond said the youngest child identified in the Russian program was just four months old, and some camps were offering military training to children as young as 14.
Russia’s embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the report.