Thirty-two children from Iraqi prisons delivered to Russia
MOSCOW. Nov 18 (Interfax) - The Ministry of Emergency Situations special aircraft has landed in Russia with 32 Russian children from Iraq, the press service of the Russian Healthcare Ministry said.
"The Emergency Situations Ministry special flight transported 32 children aged between one and three years, who were earlier held in penitentiaries, from Baghdad to Moscow today. Immediately upon arrival to Russia, these children will be brought to the Russian Health Ministry's National Medical Research Center for Children's Health, where they will have to undergo a complex medical examination," the press service said in a statement on Monday.
If necessary, children will be provided with the highly qualified medical aid, the press service said.
On Monday evening, children will be passed on to their relatives at the Research Center for Children's Health, the press service of Russian presidential children's rights commissioner Anna Kuznetsova said earlier.
During the flight children were accompanied by a medical brigade of the All-Russian Disaster Medicine Center Zashchita, the National Medical Research Center for Children's Health, the Moscow Scientific-Research Institute of Psychiatry, which is a subsidiary of the Serbsky National Medical Research Center of Psychiatry and Narcology, the Pirogov Russian National Research Medical University, the Russian Forensic Examination Center, employees of the Russian Healthcare Ministry, members of the children's rights ombudsman staff and employees of the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations, comprising doctors and psychologists.
A total of 122 children, including those transported by this plane, have already been returned from Iraq to Russia.
Four Russian children have also been brought back from Syria. Forty-nine other children in Syrian prisons and migrant camps underwent the DNA tests to determine their citizenship.
On November 18, the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry special flight evacuated from Baghdad to Moscow the fourth group of 32 Russian children "who were put in Iraqi children's homes or prisons together with their mothers who are under investigation in Iraq or sentenced to various prison terms for their involvement in terrorist activities as ISIL militants," the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Monday evening.
Thus, "all of the 122 underage Russians aged between one and 15 years, who were discovered in Iraq," were delivered from that country, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a commentary.
The Russian Foreign Ministry expressed to the Iraqi authorities "its sincere gratitude for every kind of aid and support in organizing and carrying out this extremely important humanitarian mission."
"The Russian Foreign Ministry and the Russian embassy in Baghdad will continue in contacts with Iraqi partners to carry out measures to search for and identify Russian underage citizens, who are probably still staying in Iraq," the statement reads.