EU takes sanctions against Russian officials accused of forcible transfers of thousands of Ukrainian children

The European Union announced Monday, May 11, sanctions against around twenty Russian officials and organizations accused of having forcibly transferred Ukrainian children to Russia or the occupied Ukrainian territories. “Since the start of the war of aggression led by Russia against Ukraine, nearly 20,500 Ukrainian children” would have been “transferrés de force”the EU reported.

Sixteen people and seven organizations are targeted, including structures linked to the Russian Ministry of Education, and accused of indoctrination, ideological teaching and militarization of minors. All of them will be subject to a freeze of their assets in Europe and a ban on entering the EU.

These forced transfers of children “constitute one of the worst crimes” and they should visit à “wipe out the future generation from Ukraine”denounced the head of European diplomacy, Kaja Kallas. The leader recalled that the EU had already previously sanctioned around a hundred people and structures for the same reasons. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky welcomed the new European sanctions. “We must continue to work together to bring all Ukrainian children home and ensure that those responsible for these crimes are held to account.”he reacted on social networks.