Date Of Return Of Next Group Of Russian Children From Iraq Yet To Be Fixed - Ombudswoman

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 11th February, 2019) The date of the return of the next group of Russian children from Iraq is not expected to be fixed in at least a month and a half from now, the Russian presidential commissioner for children's rights said.

On Sunday, a plane of the Russian Emergencies Ministry brought to Moscow 27 Russian children, who had long remained in Iraqi prisons with their mothers. The minors have already been handed over to their guardians and are set to undergo a full medical examination.

"Given the fact the situation is more complicated, we expect that we will begin to understand how and when [the children] will be transported [to Russia] no sooner than a month and a half from now," Anna Kuznetsova told reporters, adding that more than half of the children had already been brought back to Russia and around 50 minors still remained in Iraq.

The previous group of 30 children returned to Russia on December 30, 2018. Last November, Kuznetsova said that just over 100 children remained in Iraqi prisons with their mothers.

The problem of the Russian children in Iraq first emerged in 2017 thanks to a story released by the RT broadcaster, which filmed a Baghdad orphanage housing Russian children whose parents smuggled them from Russia and were later killed in fighting after joining the Islamic State terrorist group (banned in Russia).