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Another meeting of the Coordination Council of the RF Investigative Committee on helping children coming from southeastern Ukraine was held today under the leadership of Alexander Bastrykin.

The meeting was attended by the following: President of the National Medical Ward, MD, Professor (Children’s Doctor of the World) Leonid Roshal, Executive director of the International NGO Fair Help Yelizaveta Glinka, Chancellor of the All-Russian State University of Justice Olga Aleksandrova, out-of-staff chief pediatrician of the RF Defense Ministry, professor of the Maslov children’s diseases department of the Kirov Military Medical Academy Vadin Arsentyev, Deputy Head of the Emergency Ministry’s National Crisis Management Center Anatoly Yelizarov, Ombudsperson in Moscow Tatyana Potyayeva, Deputy Minister of Transport Nikolai Asaul, as well as representatives of the RF Ministry of Labor and Social Protection, Education Ministry, Interior Ministry, employees of the RF Investigative Committee.

In his welcoming speech Mr. Bastrykin noted that the Investigative Committee was investigating a number of criminal cases opened into major crimes committed by representatives of Ukrainian military and security agencies against peace and human safety. “I would like to illustrate it on the example of only one of Russian regions, Kursk Region. According to the data of the Kursk Region Migration Department of the local office of the Interior Ministry, in the period between 1 April 2014 and 1 July 2016, more than 22,000 people, including small children with parents and guardians, applied for refugee status, shelter or part-time residence. As of 1 July 2016, more than 9,000 people have been questioned as witnesses (152 minors among them) and 108 as victims (9 minors among them) during an investigation opened into the use of banned ways and methods of warfare by identified military servants of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, armed members of the National Guard and fighters of the Right Sector. 57 of the victims have appealed to the International Criminal Court and 60 complaints have been filed with the European Court of Human Rights,” Mr. Bastrykin said.

He outlined a number of problems on which the wellbeing of the children wounded in armed conflict in southeastern Ukraine depends. The first problem is the necessity of active assistance from the mass media. It was their help in covering Vanya Voronov’s health problems that spurred the treatment. He added that consultations of the mass media were necessary so that Russian citizens understood the importance of the problem and to keep the public updated on the participation in efforts to save children’s lives.

The participants of the meeting discussed the problems of providing the children that lost limbs due to explosion wounds with necessary prostheses; employment of parents who come from southeastern Ukraine, legalization of their staying in Russia while their children are being treated and rehabilitating; allocation of budget money to fund education of the said children. The present at the meeting paid special attention to the legalization of adopting orphans or appointing guardians to such children coming from southeastern Ukraine.

Leonid Roshal put forward a proposal to involve executive authorities to handle those problems. He thanked the Investigative Committee and Mr. Bastrykin personally for the work done, pointing out that the Investigative Committee was distinguished for this treatment of the children’s problem.

During the discussion Dr. Glinka spoke about some of the problems connected with transportation of children with congenital heart diseases, pointing out that a long chain of endorsing getting ill children out of Ukraine may entail irremediable damage for the children’s health, up to their death. She also noted all-round assistance and thanked the Investigative Committee for taking part in the lives of the children affected.

The participants noted that most of the problems discussed at the previous meeting were successfully solved. They came up with some specific proposals aimed at protection of rights, lives and health of children from southeastern Ukraine, improved mechanism of cooperation between all the agencies for handling new tasks.

The members of the council and invited participants agreed with Mr. Bastrykin who said that the life not only makes the problems easier, but sets new tasks which the Council cannot ignore.

The Chairman said: “Esteemed Doctor Roshal has justly said that we should not restrict our activity by helping only the children coming from southeast Ukraine. All children are important to us. Specialists of the Health Ministry and the Emergency Ministry regularly help victims of humanitarian disasters and military conflicts. They provide food, medical aid and schools. There are no others’ children. It is Russian tradition to help weak and unfortunate ones.”

Head of Media Relations                                                                                                                               V.I. Markin