At least 2,442 Ukrainian children have been taken to the territory of Belarus since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, according to data provided by the Yale School of Public Health’s Humanitarian Research Lab in November of last year. This information comes from a joint investigation by the Ukrainian (Skhemy project) and the Belarusian service of Radio Free Europe.
Children from the occupied territories were sent to so-called recreation camps in Belarus, where ideas aligned with the political interests of Russia and Belarus were being promoted, say researchers.
“In these camps, Ukrainian children are subjected to pro-Soviet narratives, militarized, and their national identity is eradicated,” journalists wrote. Two organizations directly involved in transporting children in Belarus are the Charity Foundation of a member of the national Paralympic team of Belarus and a motivational speaker Alexey Talai as well as the Belarusian Red Cross Society.
In these camps, excursions to the main symbols of pro-Soviet propaganda are arranged for children, along with meetings with Belarusian law enforcement officials. “For example, at a concert in the Dubrava camp for children from Donbas, Belarusian propagandist singers the Gruzdev sisters stated the following from the stage: “May Biden die, forgive me, Lord, may Zelenskyy too, and may Putin prosper. And may he take control of all of Ukraine.”
The most vulnerable category of children taken from the occupied territories for “reeducation” in Belarusian camps are orphans, say journalists. “Tracking the fate of such children – and the fact of their return or non-return to Ukraine (or at least to the territories occupied by Russia) – is not easy,” the material states.
Belarus plans to continue the illegal removal of Ukrainian children. If previously, minors were primarily taken from the occupied east of Ukraine, at the end of January, organizers announced the expansion of their geographical activity, promising to bring children from the newly occupied areas of Kherson Oblast.
Read the full article and watch the investigation at the link.
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