UK sanctions target Russians linked to deportation of Ukrainian children

LONDON (Reuters): Britain on Wednesday imposed sanctions on 11 more individuals and entities affiliated with the Russian state, targeting those involved in what it said were Moscow’s attempts to forcibly deport and indoctrinate Ukraine’s children.

Ukraine says that more than 19,500 children have been taken to Russia or Russian-occupied territory during the war without the consent of family or guardians, calling the abductions a war crime that meets the UN treaty definition of genocide. Moscow has said it was protecting vulnerable children from a war zone.

“The Kremlin’s policy of forced deportations, indoctrination and militarization of Ukrainian children is despicable,” foreign minister David Lammy said in a statement, setting out Britain’s latest round of sanctions against Russia for the war in Ukraine.

Organizations such as the Akhmat Kadyrov Foundation which runs re-education programs for Ukrainian children and teenagers, subjecting them to militaristic training, and its president, Aymani Nesievna Kadyrova, are among those targeted, the statement said. The sanctions include asset freezes, travel bans and other penalties.

The Russian embassy in London said the sanctions were unlawful and based on “unfounded claims” from Ukraine about the forcible transfer of children.

“We call upon the UK authorities to refrain from making baseless accusations in future and to avoid hindering the efforts aimed at protecting the rights and interests of minors,” it said in a post on social media.

In March, a report by the United Nations Human Rights Office said Russia had inflicted unimaginable suffering on millions of Ukrainian children and violated their rights since its full scale invasion of Ukraine began in 2022.

Kadyrova’s son Ramzan, head of Russia’s Muslim Chechnya republic who has sent large contingents of troops to boost Russian ranks in Ukraine, published a statement in Russian via his channel on Telegram messaging app in defense of his mother.

“She always helps victims of war and supports the poor and disadvantaged around the world,” said the translated comments, which also said that she was not involved in politics.

“These actions prove that the West is guided neither by morality nor by law, but acts out of hatred and Russophobia … This is the lowest level of rotten Western politics,” he added.

In March 2023, the International Criminal Court issued warrants for the arrest of Russian President Vladimir Putin and his children’s rights commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova related to the abduction of Ukrainian children. Russia denounced the warrants as “outrageous and unacceptable.”