Russia To Bring 60 Children Back From Iraq - Official

Around 60 children will be returned to Russia from Iraq as soon as they have been cleared by Iraqi authorities, a human rights councilor advising the leader of Russia's Chechen republic said on Tuesday.

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 13th November, 2018) Around 60 children will be returned to Russia from Iraq as soon as they have been cleared by Iraqi authorities, a human rights councilor advising the leader of Russia's Chechen republic said on Tuesday.

"They are preparing to bring back around 60 children. We have all papers ready and we have run DNA tests. All procedures have been completed," Kheda Saratova said.

She spoke at a press conference on Russian women and children held in Syria and Iraq. The event was hosted Tuesday by the Rossiya Segodnya news agency.

Saratova said there were no definitive figures but unconfirmed reports suggested 7,000 widows and even more children were living in Idlib alone. Iraq wants Russia to pay $6,000 for every child.

Reintegration is another big challenge faced by Chechen authorities, she added. Some women brought back from war zones have retained the habits they learned from their Islamist captors.

"Some of them do not understand they committed a crime. We are working with them. Some women have closed themselves off. We are trying to help them talk and invite them to events," Saratova said.

Chechen authorities want to set up regional rehab centers for returning children, she added. For now, they are being returned into their families or live with their relatives, and go to school.

The process of the return of Russian women and children from Iraq and Syria was launched after the RT broadcaster filmed in August 2017 a Baghdad orphanage housing Russian children, whose parents smuggled them from the country and joined terrorists. Since then about 100 women and children have already returned back to Russia with the assistance of the Chechen authorities.