UK sanctions Russian officials for forced deportations of children

The United Kingdom is sanctioning 11 Russian officials and state-linked organisations responsible for forcibly deporting, indoctrinating and militarising Ukrainian children in what officials called a deliberate campaign to erase Ukrainian cultural identity.

The sanctions, announced 3 September, target eight individuals and three organisations allegedly involved in Russia’s systematic policy of transferring Ukrainian children to ‘re-education camps’ where they undergo pro-Russian indoctrination and military training.

‘The Kremlin’s policy of forced deportations, indoctrination and militarisation of Ukrainian children is despicable, and demonstrates the depths of depravity that President Putin will reach to erase Ukrainian language, culture and identity,’ Foreign Secretary David Lammy said.

More than 19,500 Ukrainian children have been forcibly transferred or deported by Russian authorities since the full-scale invasion began, with an estimated 6,000 relocated to a network of re-education facilities, according to the UK government.

The sanctioned entities include the Akhmat Kadyrov Foundation, which runs re-education programmes for Ukrainian children and its president Aymani Nesievna Kadyrova, mother of Kremlin-aligned Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov. Also designated is Valery Maiorov, head of the state-funded ‘Teenage Programs Center’, and Anastasia Pavlovna Akkuratova, Deputy Director of the Department of State Policy in the Field of Children’s Rights Protection.

The UK called for unconditional return of all forcibly transferred Ukrainian children and accountability for those responsible for what it termed ‘heinous policies.’

See: UK sanctions actors forcibly deporting, indoctrinating and militarising Ukrainian children – GOV.UK