Russian Children Evacuated From Syria On Friday Return To Relatives - Ombudswoman

Russian Children Evacuated From Syria on Friday Return to Relatives - Ombudswoman

The 27 minors who were evacuated from Syria last week have been handed over to their relatives, children's rights ombudswoman Anna Kuznetsova said on Monday

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 19th October, 2020) The 27 minors who were evacuated from Syria last week have been handed over to their relatives, children's rights ombudswoman Anna Kuznetsova said on Monday.

A Russian Defense Ministry plane with the rescued children on board arrived in the Moscow Region in the early hours of Friday.

"Today, 27 children who had been earlier evacuated from the Syrian Arab Republic were handed over to their relatives," Kuznetsova said in a press release.

The children have undergone a medical check-up, which did not detect any serious diseases. All COVID-19 tests also returned negative.

The evacuated kids were sent to their relatives in five Russian regions - the Republic of Dagestan (17), Penza Region (4), the Tyumen Region (2), the Volgograd Region (2) and the Chechen Republic (2).

The ombudswoman pledged to keep in touch with the families as rehabilitation work with the children was still ahead.

Since 2017, Russia has been working to return minors smuggled to conflict zones in Syria and Iraq by their parents. The country has already evacuated 122 children from Iraq and 102 others from Syria.