Maria Lvova-Belova
Мария Львова-Белова
Lvova-Belova in 2020
Children's Rights Commissioner for the President of Russia
Assumed office
27 October 2021
PresidentVladimir Putin
Preceded byAnna Kuznetsova
Senator
from Penza Oblast
In office
21 September 2020 – 27 October 2021
Preceded byAlexey Dmitrienko
Succeeded byNikolay Kondratyuk
Personal details
Born (1984-10-25) 25 October 1984
Penza, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union (now Russia)
Political partyUnited Russia[1]
Spouse
Pavel Kogelman
​
(m. 2003)​
Children23[lower-alpha 1]

Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova (Russian: Мария Алексеевна Львова-Белова [mɐˈrʲijə ɐlʲɪˈksʲejɪvnə lʲvəvə bʲɪɫəvə]; born 25 October 1984) is a Russian politician. She has been the Presidential Commissioner for Children's Rights since October 2021, when she was appointed to the position by Russian president Vladimir Putin.

On 17 March 2023, the International Criminal Court, amidst an ongoing investigation, issued arrest warrants for Putin and Lvova-Belova. Her charges concern her role in the unlawful deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.[2]

Early life and education

Lvova-Belova was born into a Russian family in Penza, a city in the Russian SFSR of the erstwhile Soviet Union, on 25 October 1984. She graduated from the A. A. Arkhangelsky College of Culture and Arts as a conductor in 2002.[3]

Political career

Activities between 2011 and 2021

From 2011 to 2014 and 2017 to 2019, she was a member of the Civic Chamber of Penza Oblast, the latter term overlapping one in the Civic Chamber of the Russian Federation.[4] In 2019, she was elected co-chair of the All-Russia People's Front regional headquarters.[5]

In 2019, Lvova-Belova joined the United Russia party (the ID card was given to her on 23 November by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev). On 24 November, she was elected to the Presidium of the General Council of the United Russia, and she became the co-chair of the working group to support civil society. In September 2020, reelected governor of Penza Oblast Ivan Belozertsev appointed her to the Federation Council of Russia from Penza Oblast's executive branch.[6] After the 2021 snap election, she was reappointed by Oleg Melnichenko.

On 27 October 2021, Russian president Vladimir Putin appointed Senator Maria Lvova-Belova as the federal Commissioner for Children's Rights, one month after previous commissioner Anna Kuznetsova became an MP.[7]

Russian invasion of Ukraine (2022–present)

Deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia

Lvova-Belova meeting with Russian president Vladimir Putin in March 2022, one month into the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Lvova-Belova has publicly shown her support for the program of abducting Ukrainian children to Russia, being present at an event in Moscow where 14 Ukrainian children received their Russian identity papers in July 2022.[8] In September 2022, she reported that a group of children from Mariupol had at first shown their resistance by singing the Ukrainian national anthem, but had soon learned to "love Russia".[8] Ukrainian and British officials accused her of supervising the forcible deportation and adoption of children from Ukraine during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.[9][10] Russian programs to transfer Ukrainian children to Russia and re-educate them as Russians had begun in 2014.[11]

International sanctions and ICC arrest warrant

She was sanctioned by the United Kingdom in June 2022, by the European Union in July 2022, by the United States in September 2022, and by Japan in January 2023.[12][13][14][15]

A warrant for Lvova-Belova's arrest was issued by the International Criminal Court on 17 March 2023, which alleges she is responsible for the unlawful deportation of children from Ukraine to Russia during the invasion; a similar warrant was issued for Putin.[2][16]

Personal life

Lvova-Belova has been married to Pavel Kogelman, a priest of the Russian Orthodox Church and formerly a programmer, since 2003.[17][4] They have five biological and eighteen adopted children.[18][19] The former were born in 2005, 2007, 2010, 2014 and 2018.[4] In February 2023, she adopted a 15-year-old boy from Mariupol, which The Moscow Times said would likely spark outrage due to the concurrent deportation program.[19][2]

Notes

  1. ↑ 5 biological, 18 adopted

See also

  • Yelizaveta Glinka, a Russian "charity celebrity" who started state programs of relocating Ukrainian children to Russia.[11]

References

  1. ↑ "Lvova-Belova Maria Alexeyevna". United Russia party. Archived from the original on 27 October 2021.
  2. 1 2 3 "Putin arrest warrant issued over war crime allegations". BBC News. 17 March 2023. Archived from the original on 17 March 2023. Retrieved 17 March 2023.
  3. ↑ "Уполномоченный по правам ребенка в РФ Мария Львова-Белова. Досье" [Commissioner for Children's Rights in the Russian Federation Maria Lvova-Belova. Dossier]. Argumenty i Fakty (in Russian). 27 October 2021. Archived from the original on 27 October 2021. Retrieved 27 October 2021.
  4. 1 2 3 "Lvova-Belova Maria Alexeyevna". PenzaNews. Archived from the original on 12 August 2020.
  5. ↑ "Kotov, Kazakov and Lvova-Belova elected as co-chairmen of the Penza headquarters of the ONF". PenzaNews. Archived from the original on 10 August 2020.
  6. ↑ "Сенатором от Пензенской области назначили директора социальной НКО Марию Львову-Белову" [Director of a social NGO Maria Lvova-Belova was appointed Senator from the Penza region]. TASS (in Russian). 21 September 2020. Archived from the original on 6 October 2020. Retrieved 27 October 2021.
  7. ↑ "Путин назначил Марию Львову-Белову уполномоченным по правам ребенка" [Putin appointed Maria Lvova-Belova Commissioner for Children's Rights]. TASS (in Russian). Archived from the original on 27 October 2021. Retrieved 27 October 2021.
  8. 1 2 Boy, Ann-Dorit; Petrov, Fedir; Sarovic, Alexander (17 April 2023). "The Abducted Children of Ukraine: Kidnapping as a Weapon of War". Der Spiegel. ISSN 2195-1349. Retrieved 22 June 2023.
  9. ↑ "Invaders deport children from Mariupol and Volnovakha to Rostov Oblast, Russia: they want to turn them into Russian citizens". Ukrayinska Pravda. Archived from the original on 2 June 2022. Retrieved 28 October 2022.
  10. ↑ Quinn, Allison (16 June 2022). "Putin's Advocate for Child Welfare Is Straight-Up Stealing Kids in Ukraine, U.K. Says". The Daily Beast. Archived from the original on 19 June 2022. Retrieved 19 June 2022.
  11. 1 2 Sumlenny, Sergej (27 March 2023). "How the West Tolerated Russia's Kidnapping of Ukrainian Children". European Resilience Initiative Center. Retrieved 2 August 2023.
  12. ↑ "COUNCIL IMPLEMENTING REGULATION (EU) 2022/1270 of 21 July 2022". Archived from the original on 13 October 2022. Retrieved 8 February 2022.
  13. ↑ "Japan imposes personal sanctions on 36 Russian individuals". TASS. Archived from the original on 7 February 2023. Retrieved 7 February 2023.
  14. ↑ "Treasury Targets Additional Facilitators of Russia's Aggression in Ukraine". U.S. Department of Treasury. 15 September 2022. Archived from the original on 18 March 2023. Retrieved 19 March 2023.
  15. ↑ "UK sanctions Russian linked to forced transfers and adoptions". Gov.uk. 16 June 2022. Archived from the original on 16 June 2022. Retrieved 19 March 2023.
  16. ↑ "Situation in Ukraine: ICC judges issue arrest warrants against Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin and Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova". International Criminal Court. Press Release. 17 March 2023. Archived from the original on 17 March 2023. Retrieved 17 March 2023.
  17. ↑ ""Я уже привык к светской работе и хорошей зарплате, и тут все изменилось» — как успешный программист и отец девяти детей стал священником – Православный журнал «Фома"" ["I'm already used to secular work and a good salary, and then everything changed" - how a successful programmer and father of nine children became a priest - Orthodox magazine "Foma"] (in Russian). 9 April 2021. Archived from the original on 27 October 2021. Retrieved 27 October 2021.
  18. ↑ "Семнадцать детей будущего министра" [Seventeen children of the future minister]. TASS (in Russian). 6 September 2020. Archived from the original on 30 October 2020. Retrieved 27 October 2021.
  19. 1 2 "Putin's Children's Envoy Reveals She Adopted Child From Mariupol". The Moscow Times. 16 February 2023. Archived from the original on 16 February 2023. Retrieved 16 February 2023.
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