16:17, 5 February 2018

Chechen authorities announce return of child from Iraq

A refugee camp. Photo REUTERS/Khalid al-Mousily

In Iraq, a one-year-old girl was found, whose three brothers has been returned to Chechnya, the office of the head and the government of Chechnya has reported. However, public organizations of Chechnya assert that the return of women and children from the Middle East has stalled.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on October 11, 2017, three Chechen boys were brought from Iraq to Moscow; the eldest of them is six years old.

The Chechen authorities use the return of women and children from Syria and Iraq for their propaganda purposes, residents of Chechnya believe. Besides, the information on the number of returnees comes only from the republic's authorities.

The above Chechen girl had been adopted by an Iraqi family; now the legal issues of her return to Russia are being settled.

"Her father was killed; her mother, most likely, has also perished... It is expected that on February 7, the little girl will be brought to Grozny and handed over to her relatives," a source from the above office of the head and the government of Chechnya has explained.

The head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, stated on October 11, 2017, in his Instagram that the father of the children had died, and the mother with her 4-month-old daughter was in jail in Iraq.

"Now, no one talks about the woman; they only talk about the girl," the head of a local NGO has noted, adding that "the fate of more than 100 women and children, whom the authorities had planned to bring home from Iraq and Syria, is still unclear."

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.

Source: CK correspondent