On March 17, 2023, the International Criminal Court (ICC) took a remarkable action and issued warrants of arrest for Vladimir Putin and his associate, Maria Lvova-Belova. They have been charged with the crimes of the unlawful transfer of children from the occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation. These criminal acts began on February 24, 2022, two days after the Russian invasion.
For the Ukrainians, this dramatic move by the ICC – the first time an arrest warrant has ever been issued for a leader of a major political power – was an important step forward in the pursuit of those accountable for this criminal activity. President Zelensky praised these warrants as the “beginning of historical responsibility.” Its immediate impact deepens Putin’s isolation from the West and will dramatically limit his travel overseas. The German Minister of Justice quickly made it clear that if Putin steps on German soil, he will be immediately arrested, a bold statement from a leader whose government had previously built close ties to Moscow.
We now know that in May 2022 Putin signed a decree overturning an existing Russian law that prohibited the adoption of foreign children. He then instituted a new policy that makes it easier for Russians to adopt and give citizenship to Ukrainian children, and harder for the Ukrainian government and surviving family or relatives to bring them back home. Russian officials also prepared a register of suitable Russian families for Ukrainian children and set up a payment plan for these families. What is clear is that Putin explicitly approved of these deportations and adoptions.
A former Department of State Ambassador who worked on global criminal justice cases said of the ICC’s arrest warrant: “This makes Putin a pariah. If he travels, he risks arrest. This never goes away. Either Putin is placed on trial in The Hague at the ICC or he is increasingly isolated and dies with this hanging over his head.”
Both Putin and Lvova-Belova ridiculed the arrest warrants and stated that Russia is not a member of the ICC and the warrants are not a threat to them. Russian officials and foreign commentators also point out that there is little likelihood that either of them will ever face a trial for these alleged offenses.
Bill Browder, author of two significant books (Red Notice and Freezing Order) about Putin and his corrupt regime in Russia, disagrees. Browder states we should “never say never” when it comes to the question of Putin ever standing before the court in The Hague, and that if a new Russian government emerges because of the war with Ukraine, the new leaders may decide to send both Putin and Lvova-Belova to The Hague in exchange for the removal of certain sanctions. This is exactly what happened to the Serbian dictator Milosevic, who was convinced of massive war crimes and died in prison.
The arrest warrants and the issue of abuse and deportation of children brought back many negative memories for me from my time in Russia in the mid-1990s. I remember talking with a Ministry of Education official about our planned social work program at the Russian-American Christian University (RACU) and being told that “Russia does not recognize social work as an academic subject.” She went on to say that there were no social problems in Communist Russia, so why would they study this subject. I remember starting to laugh and then realizing that she was serious.
A few years later, when we brought our social work documents to the Ministry for their approval, the people we talked to said how important this program was, because Russians faced so many crises in their society and the training of professionals was badly needed. This became one of RACU’s two major academic departments.
What we learned when we started to visit orphanages in Moscow and other cities was terribly depressing. These institutions were often hidden from public view, especially those that served disabled and handicapped children. We also learned that many of the children were not really orphans, but had families who simply could not afford to raise them. This was true throughout the Soviet Union and these pathetic institutions, understaffed and under-supported, were warehouses for the vulnerable.
I remember in 1998 or 1999 visiting a two-story building that was under construction, as part of our ongoing search for a future campus facility. We arrived early in the morning to tour the construction site, which had concrete walls and a roof, but no windows or doors. When we entered the building and started talking, we were startled when suddenly dozens of young kids who were sleeping under piles of straw and newspaper jumped up and ran out of the building. These were “the street kids” in Moscow – homeless and abandoned - and left to survive by begging and stealing.
This legacy of “orphans” continued in post-Soviet states like Ukraine, but when the Russian invasion began, Ukraine was in the process of emerging as one of the leaders in finding homes for its orphans. Despite this progress, Ukraine still had many children institutionalized because of the poverty of their families – children who have now been deported without the approval of their parents.
If you want to help these children get back to their homes in Ukraine, there is an impressive network of 48 organizations, agencies and networks who are serving this population, which is officially estimated to be 16-17,000 children, though no one knows for sure how many more. Some are orphans, but many others are simply poor or have parents who are alcoholics. Our BEAM foundation, which has just given away the last of its assets to ministries in the post-Soviet world, has supported at least three of these non-profit charities: A Family for Every Orphan, Bethany Christian Services, and World Without Orphans. I recommend giving funds only to organizations that you have checked out on Charity Navigator or about which you have gotten confirmation from people who know and trust their work. Your gift – a great Easter gift – will not only help to bring some of these children back home, but will ensure that you get reports from groups that have “boots on the ground” in Ukraine with updates on the plight of these children. Shalom!