TALLINN, Estonia — Belarus‘ authoritarian president on Thursday attended a government-organized meeting with children brought from Russia-controlled areas of Ukraine, openly defying an international outrage over his country’s involvement in Moscow‘s deportation of Ukrainian youngsters.

Speaking on the occasion marking the arrival of a brand new group of Ukrainian youngsters forward of the New Year vacation, President Alexander Lukashenko vowed to “embrace these children, bring them to our home, keep them warm and make their childhood happier.”

Belarusian officers didn't say what number of Ukrainian youngsters have been introduced into the nation.

A current examine by Yale University has discovered that greater than 2,400 Ukrainian youngsters aged 6-17 have been dropped at Belarus from 4 Ukrainian areas which were partially occupied by Russian forces. The Belarusian opposition has urged the International Criminal Court to carry Lukashenko and his officers accountable for his or her involvement within the unlawful switch of Ukrainian youngsters.

Pavel Latushka, a former Belarusian tradition minister turned opposition activist who has offered the ICC with proof of Lukashenko‘s alleged involvement within the illegal deportation of the youngsters, stated the arrival of a brand new group from Russia-occupied territories “underlines the need for the ICC to investigate those crimes.”

“Lukashenko, his family members and associates together with the Kremlin have organized a system of transfer of Ukrainian children, including orphans, from the occupied territories to Belarus, and this channel is still working,” Latushka advised The Associated Press.

In March, the ICC issued arrest warrants for each Russian President Vladimir Putin and his youngsters’s rights commissioner, Maria Lvova-Belova, accusing them of the struggle crimes of illegal deportation of youngsters and illegal switch of youngsters from occupied areas of Ukraine to Russia. Moscow has rejected the allegations.

Ukraine‘s human rights ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets stated in televised remarks Thursday that the switch of 1000's of Ukrainian youngsters to Belarus helped Moscow cowl up the details about the illegal deportation of youngsters.

Earlier this month, the International Red Cross suspended the group’s Belarusian chapter after its chief, Dzmitry Shautsou, stirred worldwide outrage for boasting that it was actively ferrying Ukrainian youngsters from Russian-controlled areas to Belarus.

Shautsou known as the transfer “absolutely politicized,” claiming that Ukrainian youngsters who visited Belarus for “health improvement” returned house safely.

Belarus has been Moscow’s closest ally because the Russian invasion of Ukraine started in February 2022, when Lukashenko allowed the Kremlin to make use of his nation’s territory to invade Ukraine. Russia has additionally deployed a few of its tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus.

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