UK announces new sanctions against Russian citizens and organizations involved in abduction of Ukrainian children
On the one thousandth day of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the British government imposed new sanctions against ten individuals and legal entities involved in the illegal deportation of Ukrainian children.
This was reported by Censor NET with reference to the British government's website.
It is noted that the new package of sanctions is against those who implement Russian President Vladimir Putin's aggressive policy of forcibly deporting Ukrainian children, depriving them of their Ukrainian identity and further involving them in the war against Ukraine.
"No child should be used as a pawn in a war, but President Putin's targeting of Ukrainian children shows how far he is willing to go in his mission to wipe Ukraine and its people off the map," said British Foreign Secretary David Lammy.
The sanctions were imposed on ten individuals and legal entities, including Russian officials and Russian youth organizations. Among them are the Russian youth military-patriotic military organization "Yunarmiya" founded by the Russian Ministry of Defense, "Avangard"; Russian gymnast Nikita Nagorny, who heads "Yunarmiya"; and Igor Kazarezov, director of the Russian center for military sports training and patriotic education of youth "Warrior"; Andrii Sabinov, a deputy of the fake Kherson regional council; Serafim Ivanov, head of the Kherson regional headquarters of the Unarmy; Olena Shapurova, former fake "Minister of Education of Zaporizhzhia region" Olena Shapurova; Valentyna Lavryk, who manages educational processes in the temporarily occupied Crimea; "director" of the Kherson orphanage Tetiana Zavalska, who helped the Russian Federation with the abduction of Ukrainian children; and "director" of the Oleshky boarding school Vitalii Suk.
In June 2022 and July 2023, the United Kingdom imposed sanctions on 11 individuals and 1 legal entity for involvement in the forced deportation of Ukrainian children, including the Russian Children's Ombudsman Maria Lvova-Belova.
As a reminder, on March 17, 2023, judges of the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russian Children's Ombudsman Maria Lvova-Belova, who are suspected of war crimes in the form of illegal deportations and transfers of people, including children, from the occupied territory of Ukraine since at least February 24, 2022.
Ukraine has verified more than 19,000 deported and/or forcibly displaced children.
