Maria Lvova-Belova | |
|---|---|
Мария Львова-Белова | |
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| Children's Rights Commissioner for the President of Russia | |
| Assumed office 27 October 2021 | |
| President | Vladimir Putin |
| Preceded by | Anna Kuznetsova |
| Senator fromPenza Oblast | |
| In office 21 September 2020 – 27 October 2021 | |
| Preceded by | Alexey Dmitrienko |
| Succeeded by | Nikolay Kondratyuk |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1984-10-25)25 October 1984 (age 41) Penza, Soviet Union |
| Political party | United Russia[1] |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 23[a] |
Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova[b][c] (born 25 October 1984) is a Russian politician. She has been thePresidential Commissioner for Children's Rights since October 2021, when she was appointed to the position by Russian presidentVladimir Putin.
On 17 March 2023, theInternational Criminal Court, amidstan ongoing investigation, issuedarrest warrants for Putin and Lvova-Belova. Her charges concern her role in theunlawful deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia since the beginning of theRussian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.[2]
Lvova-Belova was born into a Russian family inPenza, a city in theRussian SFSR of the erstwhileSoviet Union, on 25 October 1984. She graduated from the A. A. Arkhangelsky College of Culture and Arts as a conductor in 2002.[3]
From 2011 to 2014 and 2017 to 2019, she was a member of the Civic Chamber of Penza Oblast, the latter term overlapping one in theCivic Chamber of the Russian Federation.[4] In 2019, she was elected co-chair of theAll-Russia People's Front regional headquarters.[5]
In 2019, Lvova-Belova joined theUnited Russia party (the ID card was given to her on 23 November by Prime MinisterDmitry Medvedev). On 24 November, she was elected to the Presidium of the General Council of the United Russia, and she became the co-chair of the working group to support civil society. In September 2020, reelected governor ofPenza OblastIvan Belozertsev appointed her to theFederation Council of Russia from Penza Oblast's executive branch.[6] After the2021 snap election, she was reappointed byOleg Melnichenko.
On 27 October 2021, Russian presidentVladimir Putin appointed Senator Maria Lvova-Belova as thefederal Commissioner for Children's Rights, one month after previous commissionerAnna Kuznetsova became an MP.[7]
Lvova-Belova has been closely involved with the program ofabducting Ukrainian children to Russia, being present at an event in Moscow where 14 Ukrainian children received their Russian identity papers in July 2022.[8][9] In September 2022, she reported that a group of children from Mariupol had at first shown their resistance by singing the Ukrainian national anthem, but had soon learned to "love Russia".[8] Ukrainian and British officials accused her of supervising theforcible deportation and adoption of children from Ukraine during the 2022Russian invasion of Ukraine.[10][11] Russian programs to transfer Ukrainian children to Russia and re-educate them as Russians had begun in 2014.[12]
She wassanctioned by the United Kingdom in June 2022, by theEuropean Union in July 2022, by the United States in September 2022, and by Japan in January 2023.[13][14][15][16]
Awarrant for Lvova-Belova's arrest was issued by theInternational Criminal Court on 17 March 2023, which alleges she is responsible for the unlawful deportation of children from Ukraine to Russia during the invasion; a similar warrant was issued for Putin.[2][17]
In 2025 Lvova-Belova gave an interview to Russian media in which he admitted she "forcibly took a child from Mariupol for herself", changed his legal name and "reeducated" him to suppress his Ukrainian identity which he manifested while opposing the forced transfer to Moscow. Lvova-Belova also admitted that the ICC warrant makes life difficult for her.[18][19]
Lvova-Belova has been married to Pavel Kogelman, a priest of theRussian Orthodox Church and formerly a programmer, since 2003.[20][4] They have five biological and eighteen adopted children.[21][22] The former were born in 2005, 2007, 2010, 2014 and 2018.[4] In February 2023, she adopted a 15-year-old boy fromMariupol, whichThe Moscow Times said would likely spark outrage due to theconcurrent deportation program.[22][2]
In 2024, she was reported to be in a romantic relationship with Orthodox media tycoonKonstantin Malofeev.[23] The two reportedly married at a ceremony in the elite village of Deauville inMoscow Oblast in September 2024.[24]
'Maria Lvova-Belova is one of the most highly involved figures in Russia's deportation and adoption of Ukraine's children, as well as in the use of camps for 'integrating' Ukraine's children into Russia's society and culture,' the Yale Humanitarian Research Lab's Conflict Observatory wrote.
Media related toMaria Lvova-Belova at Wikimedia Commons| Political offices | ||
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| Preceded by | Children's Rights Commissioner for the President of Russia 2021-present | Incumbent |
| Preceded by | Senator fromPenza Oblast 2020-2021 | Succeeded by |
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