Britain has imposed new sanctions on individuals and organizations involved in the deportation and militarization of Ukrainian children.
The sanctions list includes Aymani Kadyrova, the mother of Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, and the Akhmat Kadyrov Foundation, which runs re-education camps for children and teenagers, subjecting them to ideological indoctrination and military training. In total, eight individuals and three organizations linked to the Kremlin were targeted.
On September 3, the sanctions also affected Deputy Prime Minister of Tatarstan Leyla Fazleeva, head of the Federal Youth Center Valeriya Mayorova, commander of the Chechen Special Police Regiment Zamid Chalaev, Tatarstan Minister for Youth Affairs Rinat Sadikov, Deputy Director of the Department of State Policy on Child Protection at the Russian Ministry of Education Anastasia Akkuratova, as well as heads of the Kherson humanitarian headquarters “Children — Into Hands” Natalia Tishchenko and Alexandra Gurova.
According to British intelligence, Russia has deported more than 19,500 Ukrainian children, about 6,000 of whom are in camps where they face propaganda and militarization. London has called for the unconditional return of all deported children and pledged to continue pressuring the Russian authorities.
"To take a child from their home and seek to forcibly erase their heritage and upbringing through lies and disinformation can never be tolerated. No child should ever be a pawn of war and that is why we are holding those responsible to account," Foreign Secretary, David Lammy, said
During the full-scale war, Russia is systematically removing Ukrainian children from occupied territories. Minors are taken from orphanages, hospitals, and boarding schools, and separated from their families during so-called “filtering procedures,” after which they are sent to various regions of Russia, including Siberia and the Far East. They are often adopted by Russian families and forcibly granted Russian citizenship.
These measures aim to erase the children’s Ukrainian identity, subject them to ideological indoctrination, and prepare them for service in the Russian armed forces, according to London.
