The Russian Orthodox Church (ROC), supported by the Kremlin, is actively involved in the Russification of Ukrainian children who were illegally deported to Russia to destroy their national identity.
The analysts in their report refer to a joint investigation by the Russian opposition student magazine DOXA and the open-source resource Kidmapping, which highlights the role of the Russian Orthodox Church in the Russification of Ukrainian children deported to Russia by the Russian authorities.
DOXA found out that from the first days of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Russian officials deported Ukrainian children from orphanages and boarding schools in the occupied Donetsk region to the Rostov region of Russia, where they were visited by Metropolitan Mercury (Igor Ivanov) of Rostov and Novocherkassk. He told them about the Russian Orthodox Church and seemed to encourage them to consider baptism into the ROC.
ROC clerics also encouraged deported Ukrainian children to be baptised into the ROC and reportedly encouraged them to join various ‘military-patriotic’ youth organisations in Russia.
DOXA and Kidmapping also found that deported children from the temporarily occupied Donetsk and Luhansk regions were held in ROC shelters in Voronezh Oblast, where ROC clergy and associated officials hold “military-patriotic” events for deported children to encourage pro-Russian sentiment and cut children off from their Ukrainian identity.
According to official data from the Ukrainian authorities, 19,546 children have been deported from Ukraine to Russia since 24 February 2022. These are only those cases that have been officially recorded – when a parent, guardian or witness of a child’s deportation reported it to the National Information Bureau of Ukraine. So far, more than 380 children have been returned to Ukraine.
在克里姆林宫的支持下，俄罗斯东正教积极参与将被非法驱逐到俄罗斯的乌克兰儿童俄罗斯化以摧毁其民族身份认同。 分析人士在报告中提到了俄罗斯反对派学生杂志 DOXA 和开源资源 Kidmapping 的联合调查，该调查列举了俄罗斯东正教在俄罗斯当局将乌克兰儿童驱逐到俄罗斯的过程中所扮演的角色。 DOXA发现，从2022年俄罗斯全面入侵乌克兰的第一天起，俄罗斯官员就将被占领的顿涅茨克地区孤儿院和寄宿学校乌克兰儿童驱逐到俄罗斯罗斯托夫地区，并在那里受到了罗斯托夫及新切尔卡斯克都主教墨丘利（伊戈尔伊万诺夫）的探望。他向他们介绍了俄罗斯东正教，并鼓励他们考虑受洗加入俄罗斯东正教。 俄罗斯东正教神职人员还鼓励被劫持的乌克兰儿童接受洗礼加入俄罗斯东正教，据报道还鼓励他们加入俄罗斯的各种“军事爱国”青年组织。 DOXA 和 Kidmapping 还发现，来自临时占领的顿涅茨克和卢甘斯克地区的被劫持儿童被关押在沃罗涅日州的俄罗斯东正教庇护所中，在那里，俄罗斯东正教神职人员和相关官员为被劫持的儿童举办“军事爱国”活动，以激励亲俄情绪并切断孩子们与乌克兰身份的联系。 根据乌克兰当局的官方数据，自 2022 年 2 月 24 日以来，已有 19,546 名儿童被从乌克兰劫持到俄罗斯。这些只是官方记录的案例 – 被劫持儿童的父母、监护人或目击者向国家情报局报告。到目前为止，已有380多名儿童返回乌克兰。
