MOSCOW, November 13./TASS/. A plane of the Russian Aerospace Forces evacuating 31 Russian children from Syria has landed at Chkalovsky airfield in the Moscow Region, the press service of the children’s rights commissioner, Anna Kuznetsova, reported on Friday.
"A plane of the Russian Aerospace Forces evacuating 31 children from Syria has landed at Chkalovsky airfield," it said.
Earlier, the press service informed that the children would be handed over to their relatives following examination and quarantine."There are 31 children aged between two to 16 on board a plane of the Aerospace Forces. After an examination and necessary quarantine events, they will be handed over into the care of their relatives in six regions of the country," the press service said. The press service specified that Anna Kuznetsova was also on board the plane repatriating children from Syria.
The effort to locate and bring back underage Russians from Iraq and Syria was launched in the summer of 2017. Russian children are being repatriated from zones of armed conflicts under the instruction of Russian President Vladimir Putin. A special commission was set up under the Russian children’s rights ombudsperson’s office back in 2017. According to the office, over 220 Russian children have returned home since December 2018, including over 120 from Iraq, and over 100 from Syria.