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Thursday, April 30, 2026

UPDATE 1-Russian children's commissioner rejects ICC war crime allegations as false - Yahoo Finance

(Recasts, adds details on Lvova-Belova's comments)

By Guy Faulconbridge

MOSCOW, April 4 (Reuters) - Russia's commissioner for children's rights on Tuesday dismissed International Criminal Court (ICC) allegations that she was responsible for unlawfully deporting children from Ukraine as false.

The Hague-based ICC on March 17 issued arrest warrants for President Vladimir Putin and Children's Commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova for the war crime of unlawfully deporting children from areas of Ukraine occupied by Russian forces.

The ICC said it had information that hundreds of children had been taken from orphanages and children's care homes in areas of Ukraine claimed by Russia. Some of those children, the ICC said, had been given up for adoption in Russia.

Lvova-Belova told a news conference in Moscow that the consent of children's parents had always been sought, that the commission acted in the best interests of any child, and that it was more accurate to talk of guardianship rather than adoption.

If there were specific problems with specific families, she said she was ready to help solve them.

"It is unclear to the presidential commissioner for children's rights what the International Criminal Court's allegations specifically consist of and what they are based on," her commission said in a statement about its work released before her news conference.

"The use of the formulation 'unlawful deportation of population (children)' in the ICC's official statement causes bewilderment,"...



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