By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Authorities in the United Kingdom on Monday announced new sanctions against Russia over what it termed attempts to destroy the Ukrainian national identity and the relocation of Ukrainian children.
UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly confirmed 14 new sanctions, including 11 against those who took part in the forceful abductions.
The officials include Ksenia Mishonova, Commissioner for Children’s Rights in Moscow Oblast, Education Minister Sergey Kravtsov.
Others sanctioned by London include two Russian propagandists accussed of spreading anti-Ukrainian sentiments, including former Russia Today (RT) presenter Anton Krasovsky.
On October 20, 2022, Krasovsky called for the murder of Ukrainian children, saying they should be “thrown into a river with a rapid current.”
He was thereafter suspended from his position at Russia Today.
The UK extended sanctions also against Culture Minister Olha Lyubimova for “using her position to support the Russian state’s damaging anti-Ukrainian policies.”
Britain announced that the sanctioned Russian officials are to face asset freezes and travel bans.
According to the Ukrainian portal Children of War, Russia has abducted or forcibly moved 19,493 Ukrainian children since the beginning of the full-scale invasion.
Many of them were forced to undergo “Russian patriotic re-education” and were assigned to Russian adoptive and foster families.
