The British Government has announced 14 new sanctions in response to Russia’s attempts to destroy Ukrainian national identity, including 11 against those involved in the forced deportation of Ukrainian children.
Foreign Secretary, James Cleverly made the announcement on Monday which came ahead of his speech at the UN Security Council (UNSC), where he will highlight far-reaching implications of Russia’s war, call on Russia to renew the Black Sea Grain Initiative, and outline the need for a just, lasting peace in Ukraine.
According to the Goverment, among the designations announced are Russian officials Ksenia Mishonova, Commissioner for Children’s Rights in the Moscow Region, and Sergey Kravtsov, Minister of Education of Russia.
The Government stated further that these individuals have played an insidious role in Russia’s calculated programme of deportation, designed to erase Ukrainian cultural and national identity.
Adding that over 19,000 Ukrainian children have been forcibly deported to Russia or temporarily Russian controlled territory by Russian authorities.
“Deported children are relocated to a network of re-education camps in illegally annexed Crimea, mainland Russia, where they are exposed to Russia-centric academic, cultural, patriotic, and military education”, the govt said.
It further said that the latest package of designations follows the UK’s sanctioning of Russian Children’s Rights Commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova in June 2022 for her alleged involvement in the forced transfer and adoption of Ukrainian children.
Also sanctioned are 2 Russian propagandists responsible for spreading abhorrent propaganda designed to incite violence, hatred towards Ukraine, its people, including Anton Krasovsky, a former Russia Today presenter, who claimed live on air that Ukrainian children should be drowned and burned.
Moreso, the Russian Culture Minister, Olga Lyubimova is additionally targeted for using her position to support Russian state’s damaging anti-Ukrainian policies.
The Foreign Secretary said, “In his chilling programme of forced child deportation, and the hate-filled propaganda spewed by his lackeys, we see Putin’s true intention – to wipe Ukraine from the map.
Adding that, “Today’s sanctions hold those who prop up Putin’s regime to account, including those who would see Ukraine destroyed, its national identity dissolved, and its future erased”, James said.
Meanwhile, the UK and international partners have implemented the most severe package of sanctions ever imposed on a major economy.
Over 1,600 individuals and entities have been sanctioned since the start of the invasion, including 29 banks with global assets worth £1 trillion, over 130 oligarchs with a combined net worth of over £145 billion, and over £20 billion worth of UK-Russia trade.