Lvova-Belova told about two more children returned from Ukraine

Presidential Ombudsperson for Children's Rights Maria Lvova-Belova said on November 27 that two more children were reunited with their families in Russia after staying in Ukraine through Qatar's mediation.

"This time they helped nine-year-old Artem, who had been living with his dad and grandmother in Ukraine since 2019 and could not return home, to come to Russia to his mom. <...> The second story is that of seven-year-old Mikhail. The boy four years ago went to Ukraine with his mom, who unfortunately died after a long illness. Helped his father, who lives in Russia, to bring his son back," she wrote in her Telegram channel.

Lvova-Belova expressed gratitude to the state of Qatar, the International Committee of the Red Cross, regional children's ombudsmen and representatives of specialized agencies for their assistance in bringing the children home.

To date, the efforts of the Office of the Ombudsman for Children's Rights have managed to reunite 15 children from 10 families with their relatives in Russia, 80 children from 62 families with their families in Ukraine and third countries, concluded Lvova-Belova.

Earlier, on November 22, the Ombudsman's press service reported that another group of Russian children had been returned from a refugee camp in northeastern Syria with the assistance of Maria Lvova-Belova, Presidential Ombudsman for Children's Rights.

On the entire route home, the children were accompanied by doctors from the Pirogov Russian Children's Clinical Hospital and the Center for Forensic Medical Examination of the Russian Ministry of Health. Assistance was also provided by the staff of the Russian Embassy in Damascus, Senator Konstantin Basyuk, servicemen of the Russian Armed Forces grouping in the Syrian Arab Republic and the National Defense Control Center of the Russian Federation.

On April 24, representatives of Moscow and Kiev in Qatar held face-to-face talks on the return of children to families for the first time. The meeting announced a list of 29 children to be reunited with relatives in Ukraine and 19 children to be reunited with families in Russia.

The special operation to protect Donbass, the start of which was announced on February 24, 2022, is ongoing. The decision was taken amid an aggravation of the situation in the region due to shelling by the Ukrainian military.