Zelensky imposes sanctions against individuals, organizations involved in deportation of Ukrainian children

President Volodymyr Zelensky on June 10 imposed sanctions on 48 individuals and nine organizations associated with the deportation of Ukrainian children, according to a decision of Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council (NSDC).

Ukraine has documented over 19,500 cases of children who were forcibly taken to Russia, Belarus, or occupied territories since the beginning of the full-scale invasion in February 2022.

According to official figures, only about 1,300 of them have been brought back to areas under Ukrainian control.

The sanctions list includes Sergey Havrilchuk, director of the "Regional Center for Preparation for Military Service and Military-Patriotic Education" in the Russian-occupied Crimea, as well as the head of the regional headquarters of Yunarmiya ("Youth Army"), the state-sponsored youth organization that combines ideological indoctrination with military training for children and teenagers.

Ukraine's military intelligence agency (HUR) said Havrilchuk was involved in organizing the abduction and illegal deportation of Ukrainian children from the Russian-occupied territories under the guise of "rehabilitation, recreation, and education," and promotes the ideological re-education and militarization of children in Crimea.

Ukraine has also imposed sanctions against Irina Ageeva, the children's ombudsman in Russia's Kaluga Oblast. Ageeva supports and implements the policy of deportation of Ukrainian children, particularly by disseminating information about children taken to Russia, granting them Russian citizenship, and placement in families on the Russian social network Vkontakte, according to HUR.

The list also featured nine Russian organizations, including the Federal State Budgetary Educational Institution "Artek International Children's Center." Before the illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014, "Artek" was a Ukrainian children's camp, but after the occupation of the peninsula, Russia took control of it.

The camp is now involved in the mass abduction, illegal deportation, and forced displacement of Ukrainian children, organizing "rehabilitation, recreation, and education" and spreading information about the "peacekeeping and humanitarian" goals of Russia, according to HUR.

Previously, Zelensky announced on May 25 that three new sanction packages had came into effect, targeting propagandists, criminal networks, and Russian financiers.

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