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OTTAWA — Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand says Canada’s ongoing work to secure the return of Ukrainian children abducted by Russian officials shows how Ottawa is trying to work with a range of countries to advance practical, humanitarian goals.
In an interview ahead of a Monday conference in Brussels, Anand said Ottawa is focused on what it can achieve for Ukrainians, rather than whether Russia is currently committing an act of genocide.
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“For me, the important question is, what are we doing here and now, what are we doing to bring Ukrainian children home,” she told The Canadian Press.
“The issues relating to terminology and the classification of the illegal and unjustifiable Russian invasion will be heard in the international court system. We all know that Russia’s actions are against international law — they’re reprehensible and we will do all we can to hold Russia to account.”
In 2024, the Trudeau government co-launched with Ukraine an international coalition of nations pushing for the return of Ukrainian children abducted during the war. Canada is co-hosting a Monday summit of that coalition in Brussels to take stock of those efforts.
Since March 2023, Russian President Vladimir Putin and a senior Russian official have been subject to an International Criminal Court arrest warrant on charges of unlawful deportation and transfer of children.
Ukraine and its allies believe Russia has effectively abducted 20,000 children; about 2,000 of them have returned. Yale University’s Humanitarian Research Lab believes there are actually 35,000 Ukrainian children being forcibly held in Russia, the parts of Ukraine it occupies and Belarus.
Moscow has rejected these claims and at times has suggested children have been voluntarily brought to safety, particularly orphans. Russian officials have also repeatedly claimed Ukrainian culture does not exist, particularly in large areas of Ukraine where people speak Russian.
Despite Russia’s claims, human rights groups have documented cases of children being forcibly adopted into Russian families where they are made to reject Ukrainian culture. They report that some abducted children are militarily trained.
“When these children are stolen from their families, they undergo, in many cases, a process of indoctrination, where they’re forced to learn the Russian language, they’re forced to sing Russian songs, they’re forced to pray in the Russian language and take on the culture of the Russian people,” Anand said.
While the coalition has succeeded in reuniting some families, it faces challenges in identifying children and maintaining contact during an active conflict.
The coalition is meeting this week to look at how new funding can help with identifying and contacting these children, and to review efforts to gather evidence of possible crimes that could one day be prosecuted.
“Families are the bedrock of communities and strong communities ensure a strong country. And so this is absolutely central to, in my estimation, the work that Canada can do internationally,” Anand said.
Qatar has acted as an intermediary between Moscow and Kyiv to facilitate the return of children. The initiative has been supported by countries beyond Europe, including Chile and Argentina, whose governments have had vastly differently political views.
Anand said this is an example of the government’s “network diplomacy” approach of working with both its closest allies and newer partners to advance specific, shared goals.
Before the conference gets underway in Brussels, Anand will take part in the European Union’s foreign affairs council, which co-ordinates the bloc’s foreign policy, to discuss Ukraine. The council rarely involves non-European ministers in its deliberations, Anand noted.
“The magnitude of Canada’s effort stands strongly,” she said. “That’s, I believe, one of the reasons I’ve been asked and invited to attend the FAC.”
She will also meet with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte as part of her ongoing push to get the alliance to focus more on Arctic security.
Anand said she will also speak with her Belgian counterpart, Maxime Prévot, on broader Ukraine policy. She said this discussion will touch on Canada’s push to have Russian assets abroad seized and forfeited to support Ukraine’s war effort. Most of Russia’s central bank reserves abroad sit in Brussels-based Euroclear bank accounts.
European countries have so far only seized the interest earned by Russian accounts. Belgium has pushed back on the idea of forfeiting the actual funds, arguing it would expose the country to large risks and scare off investors.
After Brussels, Anand will head to Oman and Qatar to talk about both regional issues and Ukraine.
“Everywhere I go, I raise the importance of family reunification,” she said.
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