What makes this notable is its brazenness. Medinsky isn’t simply denying a crime; he’s attempting to rewrite accepted rules of war in real time, erasing legal distinctions between rescue and abduction. By framing Ukraine’s demand for justice as theatrical propaganda aimed at “European grandmothers,” he trivializes the ICC’s arrest warrants for Putin and Lvova-Belova — warrants rooted in meticulously documented evidence. This is Russia’s playbook: weaponize absurdity to corrode the credibility of international institutions, all the while continuing to commit the crimes those institutions are designed to punish.
There’s simply no ambiguity about abduction by deportation or forcible displacement being a war crime. If there’s no consent from the legal guardian, or the consent is made under duress, then consent is superfluous and bears no legal force.
For nearly two years now, The Reckoning Project has been working on the ground to collect testimonies from witnesses and survivors of child abductions. The evidence is unequivocal in terms of the scope and intent of abductions staged by the Russians.
Russia’s long-term goal is to erase the Ukrainian identity of over 1.5 million children remaining under the occupation. They are subjected to pro-Russian indoctrination, forced to adopt Russian names, passports, history, culture and language. But the Kremlin’s efforts go even further: In many cases, Ukrainian children are put through Russian military training and paramilitary youth camps, like those modeled on the Young Army Cadets National Movement, or Yunarmiya.
These programs are designed to instill loyalty to Russia and to prepare Ukrainian children for potential military roles, effectively weaponizing them against their own people, country and society.
Second, Medinsky’s claims are not merely rhetorical tricks or alternative viewpoints — they’re calculated attempts to conceal a war crime. If one follows his logic, Ukrainian children are supposedly being saved by Russian soldiers from the very invasion those same Russian soldiers launched. This circular reasoning not only exposes the absurdity of Moscow’s position, but also reveals a deliberate pattern of deception. The narrative of “saving” children serves as a cover-up for internationally recognized war crimes — an effort to deflect accountability and confuse international observers.