Russian Kidnapping in Ukraine: Types and Motives

Th e purpose is to show the nature of Russian kidnapping during the Russia's war against Ukraine, based on international humanitarian law and the existing source base.To single out its types and motives for its implementation in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine.Th e research methodology is based on the principles of historicism and systematicity.Th e author intensively used historical-comparative, analytical, logical, and source research methods.Th anks to them, it was possible to select the necessary material for the fi rst time to distinguish several types of kidnapping.Th e scientifi c novelty consists in determining the types of kidnapping used by the rashists in the war against Ukraine.Th e motives of the Russian political elite, the armed forces, and civilians are highlighted, and the discrepancies in the numbers of kidnapped children and the methods of their assimilation by the Kremlin are indicated.Conclusions.During the research, it was found that Russian kidnapping in modern war should be divided into three types: state, military, and civilian.Each of them has its own features and is used for diff erent reasons on the territory of Ukraine.Th e state kidnapping is carried out in the interests of the Kremlin; military -for the Russian armed forces to achieve certain military successes in certain territories, for blackmail and intimidation of parents and the local population, and for fi nancial enrichment; civil -in the interests of individuals who, by abducting Ukrainian children and moving them to the territory of the Russian Federation, hope to obtain material and domestic benefi ts by establishing guardianship or adopting the abducted children; family -due to the political motives of the family members.