U.S. adds Russia to child soldier, human trafficking lists

The United States on Tuesday placed Russia on lists of countries engaged in a "policy or pattern" of human trafficking, forced labor or whose security forces or government-backed armed groups recruit or use child soldiers.

The State Department included the lists in its annual report on human trafficking, which for the first time featured under a 2019 congressional mandate a "State-Sponsored Trafficking in Persons" section.

Russia appears frequently throughout the report because of its Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine and what the document called the vulnerability to human trafficking of millions of Ukrainian refugees who fled their country.

The Russian embassy in Washington did not respond immediately to a request for comment on the allegations in the report.

In addition to Russia, the new section listed Afghanistan, Burma, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, and five other countries with a "documented 'policy or pattern' of human trafficking," forced labor in government-affiliated sectors, sexual slavery in government camps or employ or recruit child soldiers.

The report also contained a separate list of 12 countries that employ or recruit child soldiers. It included Russia and a number of those on the new state-sponsors list.