Russia releases four Ukrainian children after mediation by Qatar
- 6 months ago
#englishnews #russiaukrainenews
News Article :-
Russia has agreed to free four Ukrainian children — ranging in age from 2 to 17 — and allow them to return them to their families in Ukraine after Qatar intervened as a mediator, according to a government official briefed on the matter. Two of the children are now back with relatives and two others are expected to be reunited with their families in the coming days, the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomatic negotiations, said.
Qatar’s role in the negotiations, which lasted several months, came at the request of the Ukrainian government.
The Ukrainian children passed through Qatar’s Embassy in Moscow and took different routes home. Some traveled or were scheduled to travel from Russia to Ukraine via Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland. Others went through Belarus.
The travel arrangements involved several types of transport, including diplomatic convoy, train and a privately chartered plane through Qatar, the official said.
“We welcome today’s positive news, about the reunification of children with their families in Ukraine through Qatari mediation efforts,” Lolwah Al-Khater, Qatar’s minister of state for international cooperation said in a statement. In recent weeks, Qatari officials have been in “continuous dialogue with our Ukrainian and Russian counterparts,” she said.
The reunifications mark a major development in what has become one of the most contentious and sensitive issues since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
They also shine a diplomatic spotlight on Qatar. The small Gulf country has often served as a key negotiator in global crises and could play an outsize role in negotiations regarding the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas, the militant group that controls the Gaza Strip.
In March, judges of the International Criminal Court in The Hague issued arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russia’s commissioner for children’s rights, Maria Lvova-Belova, and accused them of war crimes, saying the two bear individual responsibility for the “unlawful deportation” and “unlawful transfer” of Ukrainian children to Russia.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov denounced the arrest warrants as “outrageous and unacceptable” but also irrelevant for Russia as a matter of law because Russia is not a party to the International Criminal Court.
At that time the warrants were issued, Ukrainian Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin said Ukraine was investigating some 16,000 cases of forced deportations of children.
Putin approved a decree in May 2022 making it easier for Russian families to adopt Ukrainian children taken from the war zone and Lvova-Belova was among the Russians to do so, adopting a boy from the besieged city of Mariupol.
Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani, who also serves as foreign minister, visited Moscow in June, where he met with Putin and ot
News Article :-
Russia has agreed to free four Ukrainian children — ranging in age from 2 to 17 — and allow them to return them to their families in Ukraine after Qatar intervened as a mediator, according to a government official briefed on the matter. Two of the children are now back with relatives and two others are expected to be reunited with their families in the coming days, the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomatic negotiations, said.
Qatar’s role in the negotiations, which lasted several months, came at the request of the Ukrainian government.
The Ukrainian children passed through Qatar’s Embassy in Moscow and took different routes home. Some traveled or were scheduled to travel from Russia to Ukraine via Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland. Others went through Belarus.
The travel arrangements involved several types of transport, including diplomatic convoy, train and a privately chartered plane through Qatar, the official said.
“We welcome today’s positive news, about the reunification of children with their families in Ukraine through Qatari mediation efforts,” Lolwah Al-Khater, Qatar’s minister of state for international cooperation said in a statement. In recent weeks, Qatari officials have been in “continuous dialogue with our Ukrainian and Russian counterparts,” she said.
The reunifications mark a major development in what has become one of the most contentious and sensitive issues since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
They also shine a diplomatic spotlight on Qatar. The small Gulf country has often served as a key negotiator in global crises and could play an outsize role in negotiations regarding the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas, the militant group that controls the Gaza Strip.
In March, judges of the International Criminal Court in The Hague issued arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russia’s commissioner for children’s rights, Maria Lvova-Belova, and accused them of war crimes, saying the two bear individual responsibility for the “unlawful deportation” and “unlawful transfer” of Ukrainian children to Russia.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov denounced the arrest warrants as “outrageous and unacceptable” but also irrelevant for Russia as a matter of law because Russia is not a party to the International Criminal Court.
At that time the warrants were issued, Ukrainian Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin said Ukraine was investigating some 16,000 cases of forced deportations of children.
Putin approved a decree in May 2022 making it easier for Russian families to adopt Ukrainian children taken from the war zone and Lvova-Belova was among the Russians to do so, adopting a boy from the besieged city of Mariupol.
Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani, who also serves as foreign minister, visited Moscow in June, where he met with Putin and ot