The Insider found out who beat the children taken out of Ukraine

One of the men who used violence against children taken out of Ukraine is Valery Astakhov, a former employee of the Ukrainian special unit of the Ministry of Internal Affairs “Berkut”, who defected to Russia in 2014, according to The Insider. The children themselves recognized Ego from the photographs.

According to the media, at the end of 2013, Astakhov participated in the events on the Kyiv Maidan: as part of “Berkut”, he tried to suppress the protest against the power of the then President of Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovych, and the cancellation of the course towards European integration. After the annexation of Crimea, an employee of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine received Russian citizenship and transferred to the Russian Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which is based in Yevpatoria.

The Insider notes that in 2014, Astakhov already participated in the actual abduction of children: he took them out of Slavyansk, Donetsk region of Ukraine, to Rostov region of Russia. Then 21 children between the ages of 2 months and 12 years were taken away, and Astakhov claimed, without evidence, that the Ukrainian military was going to shoot the bus with them.

• On March 23, 17 children who were forcibly sent to children’s camps on the territory of the annexed Crimea by the occupying authorities of the Kherson region in October last year returned to Ukraine. After their return, several children said that in the “Dream” camp in Yevpatoria, they were beaten with an iron stick for their support of Ukraine and disobedience. Then they were transferred to the second camp, “Druzhba”, where they were periodically locked in the basement for several hours.
• According to the Ukrainian authorities, during the war, more than 16,000 children were illegally transported from the territory of the country to the territory of Russia and the annexed Crimea. Many of them are forcibly “re-educated”, some are taught to shoot and use equipment. So far, a little more than three hundred children have been able to return to their families.
• The International Criminal Court in The Hague has issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Children’s Ombudsman Maria Lvova-Belova. As the court established, they are responsible for the forced removal of children from Ukraine.