The United Kingdom on Wednesday announced new sanctions targeting Russian officials and youth organizations linked to what London described as Moscow’s policy to “deport, indoctrinate, and militarize Ukrainian children.”
Western governments and activists have accused Russia of forcibly relocating Ukrainian children to Russia following 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 over the abduction of Ukrainian children.
The UK government stated that it will impose sanctions on “eight individuals and three organizations connected to the Russian state.”
The British Foreign Office said its intelligence found that Moscow has pursued a “long-term policy of Russification in illegally occupied Ukrainian territories, aiming to erase Ukrainian cultural identity and nationality.”
According to the UK, over 19,500 Ukrainian children have been “transferred or forcibly deported” to Russia, including around 6,000 sent to a “network of re-education camps.”
“Upon arrival, they are subjected to indoctrination efforts intended to destroy their Ukrainian identity and instill pro-Russian sentiment,” the statement read.
Among those sanctioned are Anastasia Pavlovna Akkuratova, an official at the Ministry of Education, and Valery Maiorov, head of the Youth Programs Center, a state-funded organization accused by London of attempting to “reintegrate” children into the occupied regions of Ukraine against their country’s will.
Sanctioned organizations include the Akhmat Kadyrov Foundation and its president, Aymani Kadyrova, mother of Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, who is also on the UK sanctions list. The foundation is accused of developing re-education programs for Ukrainian children and subjecting them to “militaristic training.”
“The Kremlin’s policy of forcibly deporting, indoctrinating, and militarizing Ukrainian children is abhorrent,” said UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy.
“It shows the depths of depravity to which President Putin is willing to sink to erase the Ukrainian language, culture, and identity,” he added.
The UK had previously imposed sanctions on ten officials and organizations linked to the deportation policy in November 2024.
Activists report that Russian forces seized most children from orphanages or centers for youth with disabilities, while the remainder were taken from poor families whose parents were misled by occupying forces.
