Russian Lawmaker Denies Adopting Child Taken from Ukrainian Home Amid War

Investigation by BBC and Independent Russian Outlet Alleges Sergey Mironov Adopted Child Removed from Ukraine and Changed Her Name in Russia

Russian lawmaker Sergey Mironov, a staunch supporter of President Vladimir Putin, has denied allegations that he adopted a 2-year-old girl who was taken from a Ukrainian children's home and had her name changed in Russia.
The allegations were made by the BBC and independent Russian news outlet Important Stories, which published an investigation stating that Mironov's wife, Inna Varlamova, visited the child in a children's home in Kherson, Ukraine, before a group of Russian men removed the child and took her to Russia.
The investigation also cited a birth record created several months later that listed Mironov and Varlamova as the parents of a child named Marina, born on the same date as the missing child, Margarita Prokopenko.
Ukrainian authorities estimate that around 20,000 children have been sent out of the country without their parents' knowledge or under false pretenses since Russia invaded in February 2022.
The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova, the commissioner for children’s rights in Putin’s office, accusing them of committing war crimes through their involvement in the abduction of children from Ukraine.