The European Conservatives and Reformists Group is calling for the immediate and unconditional return of all Ukrainian children forcibly deported to Russia or held in Russian-occupied territories. Speaking during Wednesday’s European Parliament debate with High Representative Kaja Kallas, ECR MEP Rihards Kols urged the EU to go beyond symbolic measures and target the full network of individuals and organisations responsible for the abduction and forced assimilation of Ukrainian children. The European Parliament is currently preparing a resolution on the issue, which will be put to a vote on Thursday. Kols is the ECR Group’s Shadow Rapporteur on the text.
Kols said:
“Putin does not forge birth certificates himself. Thousands of clerks, camp directors and occupation officials run this system and are financed by Gazprom and Rosneft.
“Almost all remain untouched by our sanctions.”
According to European Commission figures, more than 20,500 Ukrainian children are estimated to have been unlawfully deported or forcibly transferred to Russia and temporarily occupied territories since the beginning of the Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022.
“These children are being renamed, re-registered, and stripped of their families. Erasure is the entire point of crime”, Kols said and called for action:
“Under Article 2, Subparagraph E of the Genocide Convention, this is genocide. Every member state has a binding duty to act! Sanction the entire chain of enablers! Prosecute every collaborator! And fund the Ukrainian teams keeping stolen identities alive!”
Kols concluded with a stark warning: “Right now, Russia is stealing Ukraine’s children, and Europe is barely answering. This is our shame.”
