10-month-old Margarita Prokopenko, one of 48 Ukrainian children who disappeared from the Kherson regional orphanage after the occupation of the city, was taken to Moscow, where she was “adopted” by a political ally of Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, leader of the Just Russia party Sergei Mironov.
This is evidenced by the results of an investigation conducted by the BBC jointly with Ukrainian human rights activist Victoria Novikova.
The kidnapping of the child was carried out by his wife, Inna Varlamova, who came to Kherson in August 2022 together with Mironov’s first deputy in the State Duma of the Russian Federation, Yana Lantratova. They came to the children's hospital, where Margarita was treated for bronchitis.
Currently watching
As the hospital employee said, shortly after Varlamova left, she received repeated calls from a Russian-appointed official who had recently been put in charge of the orphanage, demanding that Margarita be immediately sent back to the boarding school.
A week later, the girl was discharged from the hospital, and the next morning the orphanage staff were asked to prepare her for the trip.
Investigators were able to find a document that authorized the transfer of Margarita to a Moscow hospital, supposedly for medical examinations, although this was actually not necessary.
There is also evidence that it was Varlamova who took the girl by night train to Moscow.
Margarita Prokopenko was the youngest pupil of the orphanage, which cared for children who had health problems, whose parents had lost custody of them or died.
Want to rest? Come to Facti.GAMES!
The girl's mother refused custody of her shortly after her birth, and nothing is known about her father.
The so-called adoptive parents changed the girl’s name to Marina Mironova, and even her place of birth – Podolsk near Moscow.
And “Marina’s” birthday was indicated as October 31, 2021 – the very day when Margarita was born. Now she is already two years old.
Investigators will transfer all collected evidence to the Office of the Prosecutor General and that to the International Criminal Court.
