The United Kingdom has imposed fresh sanctions targeting Russian officials and youth organisations connected to what it describes as a state-led campaign to deport, indoctrinate, and militarise Ukrainian children.
The new measures, announced Wednesday, are aimed at individuals and groups allegedly involved in forcibly transferring Ukrainian children to Russia following the 2022 invasion.
Western governments and human rights groups have long accused Moscow of orchestrating the mass deportation of Ukrainian minors, a charge that led the International Criminal Court (ICC) to issue an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2023.
The UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) confirmed sanctions on eight individuals and three state-linked organisations, citing intelligence that Russia is pursuing a systematic policy of Russification in illegally occupied Ukrainian territories. The goal, it said, is to erase Ukrainian culture, identity, and sovereignty.
According to British authorities, more than 19,500 Ukrainian children have been forcibly transferred to Russia, with around 6,000 placed in a network of so-called re-education camps.
“Once there, they are subjected to indoctrination intended to erode their Ukrainian identity and instill pro-Russian sentiments,” the FCDO said in a statement.
Among those sanctioned are Anastasia Pavlovna Akkuratova, a Russian education ministry official, and Valery Maiorov, head of the state-funded Teenage Programs Center, which the UK accuses of trying to turn children in occupied areas against Ukraine.
Also targeted are the Akhmat Kadyrov Foundation and its president Aymani Kadyrova, mother of Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, who is already under UK sanctions. The foundation is accused of operating militarised re-education programs for Ukrainian children.
