Suspect in the deportation of children from occupied Kherson region becomes an ombudsperson in Russia.
Yana Lantratova, suspected in Ukraine of involvement in the deportation of Ukrainian children from the occupied Kherson region, has become the Commissioner for Human Rights in Russia, according to the decision by the State Duma on May 14, 2026.
Yana Lantratova. Photo credit: Samarskaya GazetaYana Lantratova is a 37-year-old Russian politician who is primarily known in Ukraine as a key figure in the case involving the abduction of Marharyta Prokopenko and Illya Vashchenko from the occupied Kherson Oblast. Before the full-scale war began, they lived at the Kherson Children’s Home.
Both were initially taken to Moscow, officially under the pretext of “examination, determining further treatment tactics, and undergoing rehabilitation.” By November 2022, the Podolsk City Court in the Moscow region of the Russian Federation had placed Marharyta with the family of Russian State Duma deputy Sergey Mironov; Lantratova was serving as his deputy at the time.
Mironov is known for his anti-Ukrainian rhetoric and his public calls to reinstate the death penalty by firing squad in the Russian Federation.
To provide background, Lantratova has replaced Tatyana Moskalkova in this position. Throughout the full-scale Russian invasion, Moskalkova was repeatedly caught spreading falsehoods about Ukrainian prisoners of war. She has been included in international sanction lists and is a suspect in the deportation of Ukrainian children.
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