[RFE/RL] Eight children and four women -- originating from Kazakhstan and Russia -- who had been left behind in areas liberated from Islamic State rebels have been flown out of Iraq and Syria and have arrived in Russia. A plane carrying the women and children arrived in the Chechen capital Grozny on September 1.Interfax news agency later reported from Grozny airport that Russia's children's ombudswoman Anna Kuznetsova and top Chechen officials had met the plane carrying the evacuees.
It was the largest group to be flown from Iraq to Chechnya, and the first to include adults. Last month, seven children were flown back on a similar flight. Iraqi officials have said that many foreign fighters who mounted a final stand in Mosul came from Russia, particularly Chechnya, and other former Soviet countries.
Chechen strongman Ramzan Kadyrov has promised to bring back all the Chechen children in Iraq, saying that "the parents of almost all of them are dead." Kadyrov said on Instagram that the latest flight included a woman from Chechnya with three children.
Kuznetsova has gathered a list of more than 350 children who were reportedly taken by their parents from Russia to Iraq and Syria. State-controlled television reported in August that the Russian authorities were trying to return 48 such minors from Mosul.