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Britain imposes new sanctions on Russia over deportation of Ukrainian children

2025-09-03 16:38:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Britain on Wednesday imposed new sanctions against Russian officials and youth organizations linked to what London called Moscow's policy to "deport, indoctrinate and militarize Ukrainian children."

Moscow has been accused by Western governments and activists of forcibly deporting Ukrainian children to Russia after launching its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

The International Criminal Court in The Hague issued an arrest warrant in 2023 against Russian President Vladimir Putin for the abduction of Ukrainian children.

The British government announced that it would impose sanctions on "eight individuals and three organizations linked to the Russian state."

The British Foreign Office said its defence intelligence found that Moscow has pursued a "long-term policy of Russification in the illegally occupied territories of Ukraine, aiming to eradicate Ukrainian cultural identity and statehood".

According to the British Government, over 19,500 Ukrainian children have been "forcibly transferred or deported" to Russia, including around 6,000 who have been moved to a "network of re-education camps".

"Once they arrive there, they are subjected to indoctrination efforts aimed at destroying their Ukrainian identity and instilling pro-Russian sentiments," she said in a statement.

Among those sanctioned are Anastasia Pavlovna Akkuratova, an Education Ministry official, and Valery Maiorov, head of the Center for Youth Programs, a state-funded organization that London accuses of trying to turn children in occupied regions of Ukraine against their country.

The sanctioned organizations include the Akhmat Kadyrov Foundation and its president, Aymani Kadyrova, the mother of Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, who is also blacklisted.

The British government accuses the foundation of developing re-education programs for Ukrainian children, forcing them to undergo "militaristic training."

"The Kremlin's policy of forcibly deporting, indoctrinating and militarizing Ukrainian children is abhorrent," said British Foreign Secretary David Lammy.

"It shows the depths of vileness to which President Putin is willing to sink to eradicate the Ukrainian language, culture and identity," he added.

Britain imposed sanctions on 10 officials and other organizations linked to the deportation policy in November 2024.

Activists say Russian troops took most of the children during the war from orphanages or centers for young people with disabilities, while the rest were taken from poor families whose parents were defrauded by the occupying forces./ REL