Russia’s Human Rights Commissioner, Tatyana Moskalkova, has said that Ukrainian authorities have still not handed over a list of the thousands of children Kyiv claims were unlawfully taken to Russia, despite the matter being discussed during talks in Istanbul.
Speaking in an interview with Russia’s state-owned news agency TASS, Moskalkova addressed accusations that Russia forcibly transferred Ukrainian children during the conflict. She rejected these claims, insisting that Russian authorities evacuated children from active war zones for safety reasons and denied any illegal deportations.
According to Moskalkova, in situations where parents reported that their children were in Russia, “almost all” of such cases had been resolved, with the children returned to Ukraine. She added that Russia has cooperated whenever families provided clear and specific details.
She explained that during the Istanbul negotiations, Ukraine was asked to submit official lists of children it believes are being held in Russia unlawfully. “Ukraine was requested to provide the names of children it considers unfairly and illegally in Russia. We still have not received this list of the thousands mentioned,” Moskalkova said.
At the trilateral Türkiye–Russia–Ukraine meeting held in Istanbul in June, the Ukrainian delegation presented Russia with a list of 339 children it sought to have returned.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry later stated that it was unable to verify about 30 percent of the names on that list, adding that many of those listed were adults who had never been in Russia.
The issue remains a sensitive point in ongoing discussions between the two sides as the war continues.
