Kremlin politician has baby kidnapped from Ukraine and adopts it
Sergei Mironov is the leader of the "Just Russia" party. Last year, the 70-year-old's wife traveled to Kherson, which was occupied at the time, and returned with a baby. In Russia, the child is given a new identity and adopted by the couple.
A bizarre photo caused horror in Russia and around the world at the beginning of the year: Sergei Mironov, chairman of the "Just Russia" party, poses with a sledgehammer that he received as a gift from the mercenary group Wagner - just a few weeks after the group had murdered one of its fighters with a sledgehammer and distributed the video of the execution on the internet. The fact that a politician of such high rank could proudly be photographed with a symbol of brutal, extrajudicial executions was too much for some, even in Russia. Now the 70-year-old politician is once again making headlines.
According to investigative research by the independent Russian media outlet "Important Stories ", Mironov and his wife abducted and adopted a child from Ukraine. The girl, who was ten months old at the time of the abduction, was given a completely new identity - Mironov and his 55-year-old wife Inna Varlamova had the child's personal details, such as her name and place of birth, changed.
"This woman has chosen her and will bring her to Moscow"
At the end of August 2022, Varlamova and her husband's deputy in the Russian parliament, Yana Lantratova, visited a children's clinic in the then occupied city of Kherson in southern Ukraine. The latter posted photos from the hospital on Telegram at the time. The two visitors were accompanied by the head of the local children's home, Tatyana Savalskaya, who was appointed by the occupying authorities. As reported by "Important Stories", after the visit from Moscow, she began to press for the release of two of her wards - a ten-month-old girl and a two-year-old boy.
According to the report, when asked by the head of the hospital why she should release sick children, Savalskaya replied: "This woman has chosen them and will take them to Moscow." According to the report, the doctors tried to delay the children's release, but Savalskaya insisted on speeding up the process. In the end, the two children were brought to Russia for "examination, determination of further treatment tactics and rehabilitation", as it was officially called.
In Russia, Mironov's wife applied to a court in the town of Podolsk near Moscow to adopt the girl. According to the court documents, the case was heard in November 2022. According to the report, the politician and his wife were finally able to adopt the girl, who had been abducted from Ukraine, in December. The biological mother had been deprived of custody and the girl's father had died, the online medium reported, citing a source familiar with the situation.
"This is considered genocide"
The fate of the boy, who was also abducted, is unknown. According to journalists from "Important Stories", they were only able to establish that a new birth certificate was issued for him one year after his abduction, in September 2023. This shows that he lives in the Moscow region.
The adoption of deported Ukrainian children in Russia is a crime under international law. "This is considered genocide and violates Article 2 paragraph e of the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide: 'Forcible transfer of children of the group to another group,'" the online medium quotes lawyer Maria Chilova as saying. According to official Ukrainian figures, Russia has abducted around 20,000 children from Ukraine, although the actual number is likely to be much higher.
Sergei Mironov did not respond to questions from the medium. In a post on Platform X, he described the report as a "fabrication by the Ukrainian secret services and their Western curators". These would discredit those who "take an irreconcilable patriotic position today", he wrote. The "truth" will nevertheless prevail. "And Russia will lead the special military operation to complete victory".
- The international community has condemned the actions of Russian politician Sergei Mironov, as investigative reports suggest he and his wife abducted and adopted a child from Ukraine, changing her identity to hide her original origins.
- Vladimir Putin's government has been accused of committing war crimes against Ukraine, with estimates suggesting Russia has forcibly transferred around 20,000 Ukrainian children to Russia, a violation of the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.
- The Kremlin has continued its attack on Ukraine, resulting in numerous allegations of human rights violations and war crimes, while Russian politicians like Sergei Mironov face criticism for engaging in questionable practices, such as adopting children from occupied territories, further fueling tensions between the two nations.
Source: www.ntv.de
