MOSCOW, March 26. /TASS/. The West’s sham concern over the fate of children who were evacuated by Russia from the zone of combat operations looks hypocritic and cynical amid that worsening catastrophic problems thousands of underage Ukrainians are facing in EU countries, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Sunday.
"Amid the catastrophic problems thousands of minor Ukrainians are facing in the countries of the European Union, which are worsening day after day instead of being resolved anyhow, the West’s false concern over the fate of children who have been evacuated by Russia from the zone of combat operations looks hypocritic and especially cynical," she wrote on her Telegram channel.
Children "who have found themselves in Europe after the ‘evacuation’ from Ukraine regularly are faced with problems of marginalization in its various manifestations, up to sexual abuse and sex trafficking," she noted.
She recalled that relevant statements have been made by EU officials. In particular, Olivia Wigzell, chief of the Swedish National Board for Health and Welfare, warned refugees that they need to be registered with the Swedish Migration agency and stressed that it is especially topical for children. In France, Joseph Zimet, the prefect's coordinator for monitoring the reception of Ukrainian refugees, said in an interview with Le Monde that he doesn’t know where to allocate 100,000 Ukrainians, of whom barely 3,000 have jobs.
Apart from that, according to Zakharova, juvenile services in Germany, which has received more than one million Ukrainians, remove children from families of refugees and deprive their parents of parental rights by court rulings. "Notably, child protection service, as a rule, interfere on tip-offs by the families giving shelter to Ukrainian refugees: the reason may be speaking with children in an elevated voice," she added.