ISTANBUL

Russia on Monday claimed that Ukrainian children who fled to Europe were regularly "marginalized" and "sexually exploited."

"Children who were sent to Europe after their evacuation from Ukraine regularly faced various types of marginalization, and even sexual exploitation and sex trafficking," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a statement shared by the ministry on Telegram, pointing to statements by EU officials and by Sweden in particular.

Zakharova claimed that the head of Sweden's National Board of Health and Welfare, Olivia Wigzell, warned refugees in the country, especially children, that they needed to register with the National Agency for Migrants "so as not to become a victim of exploitation."

The Russian official said a similar situation was also true in France, where Joseph Zimet, the head of an inter-ministerial crisis unit, "complained" in an interview with the Le Monde daily about where to accommodate the 100,000 Ukrainian refugees that arrived in the country.

"In the same interview, he admitted that half of the refugees were simply lost, that is, the French authorities had no idea where they were, what they did and how they earned a living. After passing border control, they simply... disappeared," she said.

According to Zakharova, these problems forced some countries, in particular Estonia, to close their borders to refugees.

She also claimed that juvenile services in Germany were "actively removing children from refugee families, and the courts are depriving parents of their rights."

"Considering the catastrophic problems that thousands of underage Ukrainians in EU countries constantly face, which are not being addressed but are only getting worse every day, the Euro-Atlanticists' imaginary concern about the fate of children Russia has evacuated from the war zone looks hypocritical and especially cynical," she asserted.

Zakharova's statement came after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin and presidential commissioner for children's rights Maria Lvova-Belova.

Putin and Lvova-Belova were charged with the "war crime of unlawful deportation of population (children) and that of unlawful transfer of population (children) from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation."

Russia has rejected the decision by the ICC, saying Moscow does not recognize its jurisdiction and considers the ICC decisions "null and void."