Posted August 25, 2022 5:19 pm
Canada has sanctioned a Russian woman whom the foreign affairs minister’s office alleges is the architect of a scheme to abduct Ukrainian children and facilitate their adoption into Russian homes.
The federal government has imposed sanctions on Maria Lvova-Belova, Russia’s children’s rights commissioner, who has been accused by Ukraine of organizing the removal of children from the Luhansk and Donetsk regions.
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The Ukrainian ambassador to Canada says her country is trying hard to get children abducted by Russia back.
Thousands of children have been transported to Russia from the self-proclaimed republics of Donetsk and Luhansk, including from orphanages.
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Adrien Blanchard, a spokesman for Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly, says targeting children and in many cases orphans is diabolical and cannot go unpunished.
He says Lvova-Belova is the architect of the system which has inflicted pain on thousands of Ukrainian children and families.
© 2022 The Canadian Press