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The children’s ombudsperson welcomed a Russian Aerospace Forces aircraft with 32 children on board at Chkalovsky airport. The children, 12 girls and 20 boys, aged from 5 to 17 years, will undergo a medical examination at a federal clinic and social rehabilitation at a specialised centre in Moscow. After this, they will be placed in the care of their relatives. The regional commissioners for children’s rights will render those taking care of the children all the necessary assistance in matters of education, medical support, and social assistance for underage children.

The repatriation was preceded by a protracted multi-agency effort to find the children, ascertain kinship, coordinate and process documents, and exchange data. On their way home, the group was accompanied by members of the children’s ombudsperson’s staff, doctors from the Russian Children’s Clinic of the Pirogov Russian National Research Medical University and the Health Ministry’s Russian Centre of Forensic Medical Expertise. Help was also forthcoming from the Russian Embassy in Damascus, the Russian ground-based contingent in the Syrian Arab Republic, and the National Defence Management Centre of the Russian Federation.

Established at the Russian President’s instructions, the humanitarian mission tasked with repatriating Russian children from the Middle East has been coordinated by the children’s ombudsperson since 2018. As a result, 546 Russian children have returned home from Syria, Iraq, Pakistan and Turkiye and reunited with their relatives.

The Presidential Commissioner for Children’s Rights thanks the Ministry of Defence, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation, the Government of Moscow, institutions within their jurisdiction, as well as Federation Council Member Konstantin Basyuk for helping to repatriate the underage children.

According to Maria Lvova-Belova, the repatriation of Russian children from the Middle East will continue.

The children’s ombudsperson’s staff, and doctors from the Russian Centre of Forensic Medical Expertise have taken blood samples from yet another group of children to carry out molecular and genetic DNA investigations and thus confirm their kinship with citizens of Russia.