I Didn't Kidnap Ukrainian Kids, Russian Official Howls

Maria Lvova-Belova, Russia's commissioner for children's rights, has dismissed International Criminal Court (ICC) allegations that she was responsible for unlawfully deporting children from Ukraine as false, The Telegraph reported.

Photo Insert: Maria Lvova-Belova is Russia's commissioner for children's rights.

The Hague-based ICC on March 17 issued arrest warrants for President Vladimir Putin and Children's Commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova for the war crime of unlawfully deporting children from areas of Ukraine occupied by Russian forces.

The ICC said it had information that hundreds of children had been taken from orphanages and children's care homes in areas of Ukraine claimed by Russia. Some of those children, the ICC said, had been given up for adoption in Russia.

Ms. Lvova-Belova told a news conference in Moscow that the consent of children's parents had always been sought, that the commission acted in the best interests of any child, and that it was more accurate to talk of guardianship rather than adoption.

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