٠٠:٠٣:١١Four Russian children returned from Ukraine and were reunited with their families, following mediation by Qatar.
Footage taken on Wednesday showed Russian Presidential Commissioner for Children's Rights Maria Lvova-Belova with Qatar's ambassador to Moscow, Ahmed bin Nasser Al Thani, and talking to the children and their parents.
The four were separated following the pandemic and the conflict in Ukraine, while Lvova-Belova said the boy and three girls had returned to Russia. Two had relatives in Ukraine who looked after them, while two sisters lived in an orphanage.
"It's a pretty complicated process, but we're really invested in the fate of each child. I'm happy to say that, once again, together with the Embassy of Qatar and the International Committee of the Red Cross, which is also actively involved in the process, we managed to return the children," said the commissioner for children's rights.
The mother of the boy shared her emotions following the reunion.
"It's a happy moment, a joyful occasion, a long-awaited meeting, a family reunion. We were really worried because we'd been waiting for Vasya for a long time. We're delighted to be together," she explained.
On April 24, Russia and Ukraine held their first face-to-face talks in Doha, resulting in a list of 29 children to be reunited with relatives in Ukraine and 19 children to be returned to their relatives in Russia.
In March, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Lvova-Belova and Russian President Vladimir Putin for 'war crimes related to the illegal deportation of the population (children) from the occupied territories of Ukraine to the territory of the Russian Federation'.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky also accused Putin and Lvova-Belova of the 'war crime' of 'deporting Ukrainian children'.
Russian presidential spokesperson Dmitri Peskov said that the ICC's decision was 'outrageous and unacceptable', and added that Russia 'like a number of states, does not recognise the jurisdiction of this court'.
During an informal meeting of the UN Security Council in New York in April, Lvova-Belova said that Moscow was not preventing the reunification of parents and evacuated children who were in the custody and guardianship of Russian social services.
Moscow launched a military offensive in Ukraine in late February 2022 after recognising the independence of the DPR and LPR, claiming that Kiev had failed to guarantee their special status under the 2014 Minsk Agreements, and urging Ukraine to declare itself officially neutral and give assurances that it would never join NATO.
Kiev denounced the Russian action as an invasion. Zelensky imposed martial law throughout the country, announcing a general mobilisation, while the EU and the US imposed several rounds of sanctions on Moscow.
'Long-awaited reunion' - Four Russian children return from Ukraine to their families following Qatari mediation
Four Russian children returned from Ukraine and were reunited with their families, following mediation by Qatar.
Footage taken on Wednesday showed Russian Presidential Commissioner for Children's Rights Maria Lvova-Belova with Qatar's ambassador to Moscow, Ahmed bin Nasser Al Thani, and talking to the children and their parents.
The four were separated following the pandemic and the conflict in Ukraine, while Lvova-Belova said the boy and three girls had returned to Russia. Two had relatives in Ukraine who looked after them, while two sisters lived in an orphanage.
"It's a pretty complicated process, but we're really invested in the fate of each child. I'm happy to say that, once again, together with the Embassy of Qatar and the International Committee of the Red Cross, which is also actively involved in the process, we managed to return the children," said the commissioner for children's rights.
The mother of the boy shared her emotions following the reunion.
"It's a happy moment, a joyful occasion, a long-awaited meeting, a family reunion. We were really worried because we'd been waiting for Vasya for a long time. We're delighted to be together," she explained.
On April 24, Russia and Ukraine held their first face-to-face talks in Doha, resulting in a list of 29 children to be reunited with relatives in Ukraine and 19 children to be returned to their relatives in Russia.
In March, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Lvova-Belova and Russian President Vladimir Putin for 'war crimes related to the illegal deportation of the population (children) from the occupied territories of Ukraine to the territory of the Russian Federation'.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky also accused Putin and Lvova-Belova of the 'war crime' of 'deporting Ukrainian children'.
Russian presidential spokesperson Dmitri Peskov said that the ICC's decision was 'outrageous and unacceptable', and added that Russia 'like a number of states, does not recognise the jurisdiction of this court'.
During an informal meeting of the UN Security Council in New York in April, Lvova-Belova said that Moscow was not preventing the reunification of parents and evacuated children who were in the custody and guardianship of Russian social services.
Moscow launched a military offensive in Ukraine in late February 2022 after recognising the independence of the DPR and LPR, claiming that Kiev had failed to guarantee their special status under the 2014 Minsk Agreements, and urging Ukraine to declare itself officially neutral and give assurances that it would never join NATO.
Kiev denounced the Russian action as an invasion. Zelensky imposed martial law throughout the country, announcing a general mobilisation, while the EU and the US imposed several rounds of sanctions on Moscow.
Four Russian children returned from Ukraine and were reunited with their families, following mediation by Qatar.
Footage taken on Wednesday showed Russian Presidential Commissioner for Children's Rights Maria Lvova-Belova with Qatar's ambassador to Moscow, Ahmed bin Nasser Al Thani, and talking to the children and their parents.
The four were separated following the pandemic and the conflict in Ukraine, while Lvova-Belova said the boy and three girls had returned to Russia. Two had relatives in Ukraine who looked after them, while two sisters lived in an orphanage.
"It's a pretty complicated process, but we're really invested in the fate of each child. I'm happy to say that, once again, together with the Embassy of Qatar and the International Committee of the Red Cross, which is also actively involved in the process, we managed to return the children," said the commissioner for children's rights.
The mother of the boy shared her emotions following the reunion.
"It's a happy moment, a joyful occasion, a long-awaited meeting, a family reunion. We were really worried because we'd been waiting for Vasya for a long time. We're delighted to be together," she explained.
On April 24, Russia and Ukraine held their first face-to-face talks in Doha, resulting in a list of 29 children to be reunited with relatives in Ukraine and 19 children to be returned to their relatives in Russia.
In March, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Lvova-Belova and Russian President Vladimir Putin for 'war crimes related to the illegal deportation of the population (children) from the occupied territories of Ukraine to the territory of the Russian Federation'.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky also accused Putin and Lvova-Belova of the 'war crime' of 'deporting Ukrainian children'.
Russian presidential spokesperson Dmitri Peskov said that the ICC's decision was 'outrageous and unacceptable', and added that Russia 'like a number of states, does not recognise the jurisdiction of this court'.
During an informal meeting of the UN Security Council in New York in April, Lvova-Belova said that Moscow was not preventing the reunification of parents and evacuated children who were in the custody and guardianship of Russian social services.
Moscow launched a military offensive in Ukraine in late February 2022 after recognising the independence of the DPR and LPR, claiming that Kiev had failed to guarantee their special status under the 2014 Minsk Agreements, and urging Ukraine to declare itself officially neutral and give assurances that it would never join NATO.
Kiev denounced the Russian action as an invasion. Zelensky imposed martial law throughout the country, announcing a general mobilisation, while the EU and the US imposed several rounds of sanctions on Moscow.