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Plane with Russian children on board departs from Syria

The press service of the Russian Children's Rights Commissioner Anna Kuznetsova said that the children will be taken to the National Medical Research Center of Children's Health, where relatives will be waiting for them

© Vadim Savitsky/Russian Defense Ministry's Press Office/TASS

MOSCOW, February 6. /TASS/. A plane with Russian children on board has departed from Syria, the press service of the Russian Children's Rights Commissioner Anna Kuznetsova told reporters on Thursday.

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"The plane with Russian children has departed from Syria on Thursday," the press service said.

The press service noted that the children will be taken to the National Medical Research Center of Children's Health, where relatives will be waiting for them.

Before the departure from the Russian air base Hmeymim in Syria, Kuznetsova said that there are 26 children on board the plane. Nine more people stayed in Damascus to finish paperwork.

"We have to leave several children in Damascus for now because their paperwork has not been completed. However, it will be ready very soon, and the children will be brought back on the first available plane. So we hope that everything will resolve positively, thanks to our military," Kuznetsova told reporters.

Several Russian children ended up in Syria and Iraq because their parents joined the Islamic State (IS) terrorist organization (banned in Russia). In 2017, terrorists started sending those children to camps so that they can undergo ideological and military training and later join militants.

The work to return Russian children from the zone of military conflict is underway after Russian President Vladimir Putin's order. Since 2017, the Russian children's rights commissioner together with the Foreign Ministry, Emergencies Ministry, Interior Ministry, Health Ministry and other agencies, developed a plan of action to return the children to Russia.

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