The ECtHR is considering the case of illegal adoption by Russians Ukrainian children from Crimea

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has officially launched a case concerning the illegal adoption by Russia of Ukrainian children exported from Crimea after the occupation of the peninsula in 2014.

Source: Representation of the President of Ukraine in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea

Details: According to the Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union, it is about ten children aged one to five years who were under state custody at specialized institutions at the time of the occupation of Crimea. Following the seizure of the peninsula, the Russian authorities refused to return children to Ukraine, did not inform about their place of residence, and later the profiles of these children appeared on Russian sites for adoption.

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Human rights activists point out that information about some children has disappeared from open sources, which may indicate their adoption by Russian citizens. In 2014, the Russian authorities declared more than 4,000 Ukrainian children from Crimea who did not have parental care.

Literally: “The statement to the ECtHR is based, in particular, on articles of the European Convention on Human Rights, guaranteeing the right to respect for private life, freedom and personal integrity. According to applicants, arbitrary change of citizenship and further adoption have deprived children of their social identity as a person.

Details: The ECtHR reported the Government of the Russian Federation of case No. 6719/23 and invited official comments to be submitted by July 31, 2025.

Prehistory:

• During a speech at the UN Security Council in December 2024, the adviser to the head of the Presidential Office Dariy Zarivna reported that the Commissioner for the Rights of the Child in Russia Maria Lviv-Belova boasted that more than 700,000 Ukrainian children were “scattering” in Russia.