MOSCOW, December 14. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin has praised Chechen Head Ramzan Kadyrov’s efforts in helping return Russian children home from trouble spots in the Middle East, Putin said at his annual news conference on Thursday.

"It is good work. It is important without any doubt. What Kadyrov does is very noble and right. The children, when taken to the zones of conflict, did not make a decision to go there and we have no right to abandon them. Therefore, Ramzan does right. Let him continue and we will give him a helping hand," he said.

On November 29, Kadyrov said that more than 100 Russian nationals were held in Baghdad’s prison. Among them were 25 women and 79 children. According to the Chechen leader, Russians had been kept in a Mosul camp and were later transferred to a women’s prison in Baghdad.

Over the past four months, over 90 women and children have been evacuated into Russia. They are natives of Chechnya, Dagestan, Khanty-Mansi and Tver regions, and other Russian regions. Some come from Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan.

Russian Presidential Children’s Rights Ombudswoman Anna Kuznetsova said that there are still about 500 underage Russian citizens in the area of fighting in Syria and Iraq.