Ukrainian girl Margarita Prokopenko, who was taken from Kherson, which was occupied at the time, to Russia, has a six-year-old sister and a three-year-old brother.
This was reported by Ukrainian Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets.
Margarita Prokopenko.
In Russia, the 70-year-old leader of the "Just Russia" party Serhiy Mironov and his wife, 55-year-old Inna Varlamova, "adopted" Margarita. Later, the girlʼs name and citizenship were changed — Margarita became Marina Mironova. According to Lubinets, the two-year-old boy Ilya Vashchenko was probably taken with the girl. His fate is currently unknown.
Serhiy Mironov and Inna Varlamova.
The guardian of Margaritaʼs native sister appealed to the Ukrainian Ombudsman. The woman asked for help in establishing the whereabouts of Margaryta and arranging guardianship over her. Margarytaʼs six-year-old sister already lives with a guardian, but the fate of her brother is unknown. He, like the girl, was in Kherson during the Russian occupation.
- Earlier, the BBC and the "Important Histories" project established that Inna Varlamova, together with Myronovʼs deputy in the State Duma, visited the Kherson region in August 2022. Then 10-month-old Margarita Prokopenko and two-year-old Ilya Vashchenko were treated for bronchitis in the regional hospital. Myronovʼs wife came to the hospital with Tetyana Zavalska, the future "head" of the orphanage. After discharge, Margaryta and Illya were immediately taken away and taken to Moscow under the pretext of "examination, determination of further treatment tactics and rehabilitation."
- The deportation of Ukrainian children is one of Russiaʼs war crimes, for which the International Criminal Court issued a warrant for the arrest of Putin and the childrenʼs ombudsman of the Russian Federation Maria Lvova-Belova. Currently, at least 19,546 Ukrainian children are known to have been forcibly deported to Russia, less than 400 of them have been returned. Ukraine also has evidence that Belarus participates in the deportation of Ukrainian children.