Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko (left) and Russian President Vladimir Putin pose for a photograph previous to a gathering in Minsk, Belarus, on Nov. 23.
Konstantin Zavrazhin/Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photograph through AP, File
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Konstantin Zavrazhin/Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photograph through AP, File
Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko (left) and Russian President Vladimir Putin pose for a photograph previous to a gathering in Minsk, Belarus, on Nov. 23.
Konstantin Zavrazhin/Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photograph through AP, File
TALLINN, Estonia — Belarus’ authoritarian president on Thursday attended a government-organized assembly with kids introduced from Russia-controlled areas of Ukraine, overtly defying a global outrage over his nation’s involvement in Moscow’s deportation of Ukrainian kids.
Talking on the occasion marking the arrival of a brand new group of Ukrainian kids forward of the New Yr vacation, President Alexander Lukashenko vowed to “embrace these kids, carry them to our residence, preserve them heat and make their childhood happier.”
Belarusian officers didn’t say what number of Ukrainian kids had been introduced into the nation.
A current research by Yale College has discovered that greater than 2,400 Ukrainian kids aged 6-17 have been delivered to Belarus from 4 Ukrainian areas which have been partially occupied by Russian forces. The Belarusian opposition has urged the Worldwide Prison Court docket to carry Lukashenko and his officers accountable for his or her involvement within the unlawful switch of Ukrainian kids.
Pavel Latushka, a former Belarusian tradition minister turned opposition activist who has introduced the ICC with proof of Lukashenko’s alleged involvement within the illegal deportation of the kids, stated the arrival of a brand new group from Russia-occupied territories “underlines the necessity for the ICC to research these crimes.”
“Lukashenko, his members of the family and associates along with the Kremlin have organized a system of switch of Ukrainian kids, together with orphans, from the occupied territories to Belarus, and this channel remains to be working,” Latushka informed The Related Press.
In March, the ICC issued arrest warrants for each Russian President Vladimir Putin and his kids’s rights commissioner, Maria Lvova-Belova, accusing them of the battle crimes of illegal deportation of youngsters and illegal switch of youngsters from occupied areas of Ukraine to Russia. Moscow has rejected the allegations.
Ukraine’s human rights ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets stated in televised remarks Thursday that the switch of hundreds of Ukrainian kids to Belarus helped Moscow cowl up the details about the illegal deportation of youngsters.
Earlier this month, the Worldwide Crimson Cross suspended the group’s Belarusian chapter after its chief, Dzmitry Shautsou, stirred worldwide outrage for boasting that it was actively ferrying Ukrainian kids from Russian-controlled areas to Belarus.
Shautsou known as the transfer “completely politicized,” claiming that Ukrainian kids who visited Belarus for “well being enchancment” returned residence safely.
Belarus has been Moscow’s closest ally because the Russian invasion of Ukraine started in February 2022, when Lukashenko allowed the Kremlin to make use of his nation’s territory to invade Ukraine. Russia has additionally deployed a few of its tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus.
