The international center of the NGO Aldeas Infantiles SOS has frozen all flows of money to its Russian subsidiary because it has not been able to dispel doubts about a possible involvement in alleged cases of kidnapped Ukrainian children, sources from the organization told EFE.
“We cut off all international flows, that is, from associations around the world,” a spokeswoman for the center confirmed by telephone, in the Austrian city of Innsbruck.
That source specified that Russian Children’s Villages currently cares for 600 children, of which 13 are Ukrainian, and that it has not been possible to clarify how the latter have arrived in Russia. The situation is “very confused, there is very little factual knowledge,” she said.
“The Russian association has not been able to demonstrate until now that all the rights of the child and the humanitarian norms are fulfilled,” says the NGO in a statement published last night on its website.
“It can still be assumed that there is a worrying relationship with the forced transfers” of Ukrainian minors to Russia, although, for the moment, there is no evidence of an involvement.
What “there is information” about is that its general director is the editor-in-chief of a children’s magazine in which propaganda content is disseminated.
“We now have information that the chairman of the board of directors of SOS Children’s Villages Russia works as editor-in-chief of a children’s magazine in which propaganda content is disseminated,” the NGO said in its statement.
The organization highlights its firm opposition “to the use of children for any form of political work and propaganda” and condemns “any type of forced adoption, forced transfer or forced naturalization”.
“The current situation makes it necessary to take action against the Russian association. Therefore, all international money flows are frozen until further notice,” he adds. These flows represent 14% of the budget of the Russian headquarters, according to the spokesperson told EFE.
In addition, SOS Children’s Villages Austria, as the global owner of the brand, has initiated a brand review procedure for the Russian site.
These measures are adopted after the German television ZDF broadcast last week an investigation that suggests that the Russian NGO would have welcomed kidnapped Ukrainian children for their “Russification”.
The European Commission launched last Monday, together with Poland and with the support of the UN, an initiative to “find” the “thousands of Ukrainian children” that Russian forces have kidnapped and deported to Russia to give them up for adoption.
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