WASHINGTON, February 1. /TASS/. Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov has denounced the accusations targeting Russia over the "forced deportation" of Ukrainian children as blasphemous, as voiced at the hearings of the Helsinki Commission at the US Congress.

"We categorically deny these blasphemous and unsubstantiated accusations. Our country cares about each and every child who has suffered from the crimes of Ukrainian Nazis. We are doing our best to shield children from the atrocities of the Ukrainian armed forces," the ambassador said in response to media questions.

Antonov also noted that the US authorities have their own self-serving motives, since they regard Ukraine "as a hub for international adoptions of children."

"It is obvious that the plan of the US lawmakers and Ukrainian functionaries is to indoctrinate the public with the idea that it is necessary to continue military and material support for the terrorist regime of [Ukrainian President Vladimir] Zelensky," the diplomat added.

According to the ambassador, the US authorities should have focused on "putting their own house in order" instead of playing these games, as their professed "care for minors" doesn’t jive with reality. "The United States is not part of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, it has tarnished itself in Vietnam and Afghanistan by forcibly moving children out of those countries," he said. Along these lines, he mentioned "the disappearance of about 85,000 teenagers as a result of the migration crisis on the southern border of the US, the wrecked lives of children who became victims of hormone therapy and sex reassignment surgery, as well as the failure to respect the rights of adoptees."

On March 17, 2023, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova, Russia's presidential commissioner for children's rights, on charges of the illegal deportation of Ukrainian children. As Putin pointed out, the Russian authorities were lawfully getting children out of the conflict zone, saving their lives and health, and never opposed their reunification with families.