Russia sent 48 Ukrainian children to psychiatric hospitals in the occupied Donetsk region on extremism charges – human rights advocate

During the Russian occupation of the Donetsk Oblast, 48 children and adolescents were sent to psychiatric hospitals on charges of “extremism”. These figures were published by Maria Krasnenko, an expert from the NGO Almenda Center for Civic Education, during a presentation of the report “How Russia Erases Ukrainian Identity Under the Guise of Combating Extremism”, at the Ukraine Media Center in Kyiv.

Illustrative image. Photo by Alexander Natruskin/ Reuters

“Occupying authorities use all possible means of systematic persecution, with a particular focus on children and young people. Education and state youth policy are their main tools in the fight against extremism. This also applies to the occupied territories. The enemy has developed clear markers by which it tracks all “dissidents,” Krasnenko said. 

According to the so-called “DPR,”і 161 minors have been held criminally liable, 48 of whom have been placed in compulsory psychiatric treatment, she added.

Maria Krasnenko

Ukrainian children are accused of “extremism” by occupying authorities in Donetsk Oblast. This is a common tactic used by the Russian authorities to exert pressure and, at the same time, mask repression.

In addition to punitive psychiatry, administrative measures such as fines are applied to minors.

According to Almenda, approximately 6 million Ukrainians remain in the occupied territories, including 1.5 million children. Their militarization, which began in 2014, has intensified after the full-scale Russian invasion.

For example, there are reports of phone checks in schools, and teachers are forced to encourage students to inform on others, with reporting mechanisms prepared in advance.

Regarding compulsory treatment, the human rights advocate does not specify which psychiatric institutions hold minors.

Since 2016, human rights activists have been talking about the return of the Soviet practice of compulsory treatment, known as “punitive psychiatry,” in Russia and on the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine. In the years since the onset of the full-scale war, Russian courts have sent numerous dissidents to psychiatric hospitals.