Exclusive: Kidnapped Ukrainian Children Forced into Genetic Testing Nightmare by Russia
A pipeline from Kherson, Ukraine, to Sochi, Russia, sees the captive kids of Ukraine mentally and physically poked, prodded, and tested by the Kremlin to turn them into perfect Russians.
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Days before the beckoning of spring and just months after an ignominious retreat ordered by the Kremlin from the city of Kherson, a little-seen press piece put out by the Russian Interior Ministry in March of 2023 heralded the opening of a genetic research laboratory located in a still occupied part of Ukraine’s Kherson Oblast.
While Tass's coverage of the event mainly focused on the lab's supposed law enforcement benefits, the article's opening sentence revealed that the new facility would be focused on “allowing forensic experts to conduct DNA research.” The story was then filled with laudatory coverage of the men behind the opening before being bookended with an ending assuring readers that the genetic work “will also contribute to the replenishment of the federal database of genetic information.”
The Federal Database of Genetic Information, an Orwellian turn of words befitting modern Russia, is part of what the Moscow Times referenced as Putin's drive to ensure all Russians have “genetic passports” by this year.
While forcing all Russians to submit their DNA to the state is draconian, this drive by the Kremlin to fully control every aspect of its citizens’ lives has now, new information suggests that thousands of Ukrainian children have been ensnared in this web as well.
Last November, the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine (GUR) received a report linking the Kherson Laboratory to actions almost 1500 Kilometers away in Sochi, Russia. A source stated that kidnapped kids from Ukraine’s occupied territories were being brought to Sochi at the direction of the FSB’s Unit 03110, with at least one of the State Security agents having been known to have traveled between Sochi and Ukraine before and after the 2022 full-scale invasion.
According to the informant, once at the compound known as the Bridge Resort, the captive children would undergo genetic testing similar to what was also known to be taking place in Kherson Oblast. While the so-called resort offers an array of amenities focused on kids, it also houses multiple medical clinics offering services such as plasma therapy and laboratory research. Conveniently, the headquarters of Unit 03110 is a five-minute drive away.
And what is the purpose of bringing Ukrainian adolescents to Sochi to undergo such procedures? The answer lies in the former Olympic city's being home to the Putin-sponsored Sirius School for gifted learners. Behind the educational veneer, Sirius also serves other purposes, all of which are meant to advance Putin’s vision of “Russkiy Mir,” or what is known in English as Russia’s world.
In a February 2023 meeting, Maria Lvova-Belova (Russia’s Commissioner for Children’s Rights who the International Criminal Court has indicted) publicly gushed to Putin that since August 2022, Kremlin apparatchiks had launched “integration camp sessions” for teenagers from the new (and illegally) occupied regions. The first few cohorts of Ukrainians to be cycled through the indoctrination system ran into the thousands. She then specifically tied Sirius to the efforts at brainwashing the vulnerable youth, proclaiming, “We involve our colleagues – Sirius, Russia – Land of Opportunities (youth platform) – everyone is helping.”
Sirius and the people of Sochi were directly involved in hosting and exposing Ukrainian teens to Russia’s “best” educational and career resources. Lvova-Belova characterized these trips as responses to the teens’ curiosity “to see what has appeared [in their lives] with Russia’s arrival,” but they clearly served a propaganda and assimilation function.
Another documented example involving young people occurred in the summer of 2023: 33 students from Luhansk and Kherson regions were brought to Sirius University in Sochi for training. According to an official Sirius release, these were vocational college students who participated in IT workshops and a socio-cultural program on campus. The program introduced them to “the latest achievements of Russian science and Russia’s cultural-historical heritage.”
The Russian organizers (Sirius, in partnership with the Kremlin’s “People’s Front” movement) described this as a project for “social and educational integration of college students from the new regions into the modern educational space.” This language suggests a structured effort to integrate Ukrainian youth into Russia’s education system. It also highlights that the trips were organized under official auspices – in this case, the All-Russia People’s Front (ONF) and Sirius’s foundation– rather than any grassroots exchange. Notably, the head of Sirius, Elena Shmeleva, personally met with these students to discuss the “big challenges facing the country,” underscoring the political messaging built into the program.
Other Russian accounts indicate that teachers from occupied Ukrainian territories were also hosted at Sirius for training. For example, in summer 2022, 150 school teachers from the DNR and LNR visited Sirius to prepare to transition their schools to Russian curricula. This aligned education in those regions with Russian standards (e.g., teaching Russia’s version of history).
In parallel, Russian authorities have announced plans to replicate the Sirius model in Donetsk itself. These official narratives all portray Sirius’s involvement as a benevolent outreach: providing gifted or war-affected Ukrainian children with education, “rehabilitation,” and “opportunities” in Russia. For instance, Putin publicly suggested Sirius create talent support centers in Donetsk and Luhansk, emphasizing that those children “really need this.”
Genetic laboratories, indoctrination camps, and the direct influence of the FSB. As the United States cuts funding focused on the return of these missing Ukrainian children, the world must stand firmer than ever and demand the return of these kids back to their families and friends in Ukraine. No society, especially that of Russia, should be built upon the minds and genes of Ukraine’s forcibly detained young people.
In case you missed it, here was yesterday’s post on Ukraine’s Missing Children:
Imagine that, testing & programming children. Sound familiar? Will they be called "Putin Youth"? Insanity abounds worldwide. Heaven help us.💙☮
This is sooo deeply fucked up...