The exact number of kidnapped children remains unclear, but estimates from Kyiv suggest it to be approximately 20,000. These children are pressured to abandon their homeland and forget about their families, as Russian officials believe they can successfully "re-educate" them, Meduza said.
Read also: Bohdan, 11, tells about his life in Russia-devastated Izyum
The program is spearheaded by the Russian Education Ministry, which developed a special dictionary for Russian teachers in 2022. This dictionary contains words and phrases deemed "extremist" based on nationalism, including expressions like "Glory to Ukraine! Glory to the heroes!", "rashism," and "orcs" — terms commonly used by Ukrainians to resist the Russian invasion.
The program goes beyond language, as a manual titled "Preventing Conflicts, Extremism, and Terrorism in a Multicultural Educational Environment" suggests that even using "specific slang" or discussing "political topics" could be signs of "destructive ideology." The Ministry claims that these children were somehow "influenced" by such ideology simply for living in Ukraine.
Read also: Ukraine returns two more children from occupied territories to their parents
Documents obtained by Meduza reveal that Russian teachers are tasked with "reorienting" these children and instilling a Russian identity in the youth of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhya, and Kherson oblasts – in Russian-occupied territories.
Another manual, titled "Supporting Adolescents Arriving from Combat Zones," outlines how these abducted children might react, showing "protest," "moodiness," "distrust of adults," or even acting “aggressively.”
The manual downplays the war itself — the only reason these children are in Russia — as a mere "complication of the geopolitical situation" that forces families to "relocate."
Read also: Russia reportedly militarizing teenagers in occupied Crimea's schools, colleges
The Education Ministry reportedly fears these children, referring to them internally as "potential terrorists" who could "oppose" Russian authorities, Meduza sources said. Communication with them is solely in Russian.
"As in, the Constitution says that the Russian language is the state language: if you come to Russia, speak Russian," the source said.
Russian ombudsperson Maria Lvova-Belova insists that Russians cannot adopt children from these "new regions." However, Meduza's investigation uncovered evidence of a large-scale program for the mass adoption of Ukrainian children.
Adding to the horror, the Center for the Study and Network Monitoring of the Youth Environment — an NGO founded at the behalf of Russian dictator Vladimir Putin — is actively monitoring these children online. This company can reportedly "deanonymize" any teenager's social media page and analyze everything from comments to likes. Based on this analysis, each child is assigned a "coefficient of destructiveness" and a "coefficient of opposition."
The International Criminal Court in The Hague issued arrest warrants for Putin and Lvova-Belova on March 17, 2023. They are accused of illegally abducting children from Ukraine to Russia since Feb. 24, 2022.
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Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
Section: Nation
Author: Альона Сонько
