MOSCOW, December 30. /TASS/. All Russian children who were transported back home from Syrian refugee camps earlier were handed over to their closest relatives, the press service of the Russian Commissioner for Children’s Rights Anna Kuznetsova informed on Wednesday.

"Nineteen little Russian citizens were returned to Russia on December 26. Children aged 3 to 15 were placed at one of the medical facilities in Moscow where they underwent all necessary medical examinations and got tested for COVID-19. The children’s health caused no concerns, and all the tests were negative. Today, the doctors agreed to hand over the children to the families of their relatives," the message says.

The children and their relatives will travel to Dagestan, Bashkortostan, the Saratov Region and the Kemerovo Region.

"I am very glad that the children are well, that they will celebrate the New Year at home, with their families. For the majority of them, many things are happening for the first time. They saw the winter and real snow for the first time, there will be a holiday celebration in their lives for the first time, and I hope that it will bring them real children’s wishes and dreams. Of course, I would like to wish then happiness in the New Year and in their new life," the press service quotes Kuznetsova as saying.

Active work on the return of children from conflict zones to Russia is underway upon instructions from Russian President Vladimir Putin.

A special commission was set up in 2017 by the office of the Russian children’s rights commissioner to help evacuate Russian children from areas of combat operations. The commission elaborated an algorithm of repatriating Russian children jointly with the Russian Foreign Ministry, the Ministry of Emergencies, the Ministry of Health and the Interior Ministry.