The Insider established the identity of the security official who intimidated and used violence against the deported Ukrainian children.
According to the publication, this is a former Berkut employee Valery Astakhov, who participated in the events on the Maidan on the part of the security forces of the then President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych. Before the annexation of Crimea, he worked in the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, then he took Russian citizenship and transferred to the service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation in Evpatoria.
Journalist Tatyana Popova showed photos of Astakhov to a boy who told about the beatings of Ukrainian children in the camp, he identified him.
The Insider recalls that in the summer of 2014, Astakhov already took children from Slavyansk to Rostov: then 38 people were taken out, including 21 children aged from 2 months to 12 years old, Astakhov accompanied them. He arguedthat the bus with refugees was going to be “shot” by the Ukrainian military. His words were not confirmed by anything.
“It was done by Lenin, Stalin, and today by Putin.” In Russia, there is a network of camps for the “re-education” of children taken out of Ukraine by force:
Earlier, seventeen children were returned to Ukraine from the annexed Crimea, who were allegedly taken from the occupied territories to a summer camp, after which they were kept for six months. The children said that in Crimea they were forced to sing the Russian anthem, and when they found a yellow and blue flag, they burned it. If schoolchildren said they supported Ukraine, they were beaten.
One of the boys in a conversation with journalists mentioned Astakhov and called him “the chief of security.” He said that Astakhov burned the flag of one of the girls. “He says, let’s go, you will watch how your country is burning. Then they gathered us and they say:” Ukraine is terrorists. They kill people, children. Ukraine does not need you,” he said.
SEE ALSO: International Court of Justice in The Hague Issues Arrest Warrant for Vladimir Putin and Russia’s Children’s Ombudsman
According to the Ukrainian Ombudsman, more than 16,000 children were deported from Ukraine to Russia during the war. For the illegal deportation of children from the occupied territories of Ukraine to Russia, the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague issued an arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin and children’s ombudsman Maria Lvova-Belova. As explained in court, there are “reasonable grounds” to believe that the President of the Russian Federation is personally responsible for this.
