UK Sanctions Russian Officials and Groups Over Deportation of Ukrainian Children

The UK has sanctioned eight Russian individuals and three organizations for their role in the forced deportation and ideological reprogramming of nearly 20,000 Ukrainian children since 2022, accusing Russia of erasing Ukrainian identity and preparing some children for military conscription.

The UK government has announced new sanctions targeting eight Russian individuals and three organizations involved in the forced deportation and ideological reprogramming of Ukrainian children.

Foreign Secretary David Lammy confirmed the sanctions on Wednesday, describing the actions of the Russian state and affiliated groups as “despicable.” The move comes amid growing international outrage over Russia’s mass relocation of nearly 20,000 Ukrainian children since the onset of the 2022 invasion. At least 6,000 of these children are believed to have been sent to so-called “re-education” camps.

The UK says the purpose of these camps is to erase Ukrainian cultural identity and prepare the children for integration into Russian society — potentially even conscription into Russian military service.

Among those sanctioned is Aymani Kadyrova, mother of Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov and president of the Akhmat Kadyrov Foundation, which is alleged to oversee re-education programs. The foundation itself has also been sanctioned.

Two other organizations — Volunteers of Victory and Movement of the First, a state-sponsored youth initiative likened to the Soviet-era Young Pioneers — were also blacklisted.

Sanctioned individuals include:

• Anastasia Akkuratova, Russian Ministry of Education official
• Zamid Chalayev, Chechen military commander
• Leyla Fasleeva and Rinat Sadykov, deputy prime minister and youth minister of Tatarstan
• Valery Maiorov, head of the “Teenage Programmes Centre”, accused of promoting anti-Ukrainian sentiment among deported children

Lammy emphasized the UK’s position:

“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.”

Several of the individuals sanctioned by the UK have already been targeted by similar measures from the EU and Canada.

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SOURCES: ALLSCHOOL, GAZETTE