“We don’t know where it is. He’s in danger. Help us bring him back to Italy“. This is the warning cry raised by the grandparents of Romana 6-year-old boy of Italian origin who would end up at the center of deportations of minors for which Vladimir Putin it is wanted by the International Criminal Court in The Hague.
An Italian child among Putin’s deportees?
Roman’s story was told by numerous local newspapers in the Veneto region, which also disseminated the appeal of Marcello and Angela, the grandparents of the little one living in Italy. The child was born in Verona six years ago, son of a Veronese father by adoption and a Ukrainian mother. The woman, after her divorce from her husband, which took place shortly after the birth of her firstborn, would have brought the unborn child with her into the Donbass. From that moment on, she would never take him back to Italy.
According to the grandparents’ story, at first the child’s mother would have worked for the Ukrainian secret servicesexcept then pass on the side pro-Russian. The newspaper The Arena wrote that the last image received by the grandparents, who have been appealing for their grandson for two years, is a shot with a mobile phone, with Roman holding a butterfly in his hand as he tilts his head to one side and smiles.
Roman’s story
“Russian President Putin has been accused of war crimes and deportation of minors. Among those children whose traces have been lost is our nephew Roman, whom his Ukrainian mother stole from his father. Roman is an Italian citizen and no one can bring him back to his homeland“, explained the grandparents.
Apparently, more than a year after the outbreak of war in Ukraine, the context in which Roman would be forced to live would be nothing short of prohibitive. The little boy allegedly spent five years in Donbass, in the midst of a conflict between Ukrainians and pro-Russians, living in Donetsk. However, today it would be going through an even more complicated phase of its existence.
“We found out that the baby’s mother worked in the Ukrainian secret service and then switched sides. So she is a sensitive targethas become an enemy of the people, consequently our nephew is too”, added Marcello and Angela. As a result, the child would be forced to move constantly and suffer heavy deprivations, as well as having to share, de facto, the condition of the mother.
The grandparents’ appeal
“Despite the interest of the Italian consul in Ukraine and the various attempts we have made, also with the help of local politicians, the mother’s position has further hardened, and we have not been in contact with him for about a year”Roman’s grandparents made it known, explaining that they do not know where their grandson is or who he lives with.
Hence the decision to appeal the Convention on the Rights of the Child. “Up until a year ago we made some video calls with our nephew, who doesn’t speak Italian by choice of his mother, then not even that anymore, the phone numbers are blocked” concluded the couple.
According to rumors reported by local media, the child’s father met his future wife in Ukraine. The two married and had a son, Roman, only to divorce within 3 months of his birth. The woman then took the child to Ukraine. The last time the grandparents saw him in person was on 2018.
