MOSCOW. Aug 12 (Interfax) - Russia stands for the repatriation of international terrorist fighters to ensure their unavoidable punishment, however, this process is progressing with difficulty, as many of them lack documents to confirm their citizenship, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Oleg Syromolotov said.
"We call for the unavoidable punishment for terrorist crimes and urge the entire global community to pool efforts to this end. Consistent with the international obligations, international fighters involved in terrorist activities in the territory of Syria, Iraq, or any other state should be repatriated to their home countries, where they should be held responsible proportionate to the severity of their crimes or stand trial at the place where the crime was committed consistent with national laws of the relevant state," Syromolotov said in an interview with Interfax.
"Obviously, there are objective difficulties on this path, including those caused by the fact that persons staying in the camps for internally displaced people sometimes lack documents that allow to identify them and their citizenship," he said.
Russia has unique experience of work with families of militants, which is being carried out under the aegis of the office of Russian Presidential Commissioner for Children's Rights Anna Kuznetsova.
"For instance, efforts are being taken to evacuate Russian children from Iraq and Syria with their future social rehabilitation and reintegration into society. A total of 341 children have been evacuated from conflict zones in the Middle East since December 2018. The past three years have demonstrated the practical nature and the efficiency of the Russian approach to the repatriation of minors. We believe this could set a good example for other countries. Therefore, we are ready to share our practices in this area with other states," Syromolotov said.