EU To Sanction More Russians Over Deportation Of Ukrainian Children

This article was originally published in Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL). Read the original article.

By Rikard Jozwiak

The EU is preparing more sanctions on people and entities in Russia and Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine that the bloc deems responsible for the illegal deportation and so-called “reeducation efforts” of Ukrainian children.

In a sanction’s proposal seen by RFE/RL, the EU calls the activities by Moscow “grave breaches of international law and a violation of the fundamental rights of the child with the aim to erase Ukrainian identity and undermine the preservation of its future generations.”

Over the last three years, the EU blacklisted several organizations and people involved in these deportations and, on May 6, EU ambassadors are set to green light more sanctions on over a dozen new names.

One of the proposed entities for sanctions is the Children’s Center Smena which is linked to the Russian Education Ministry.

According to the text, the center “hosts Ukrainian minors forcibly transferred from occupied territories, where they are subject to ideological indoctrination, “Russification,” and militarized-style education.”

Another entity is the Avangard Military Camp, which the EU says sends children for “political indoctrination and activities consistent with militarized and cadet-style education frameworks, such as military training and discipline.”

Two other organizations, based in the Russian-occupied Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea, are also mentioned as hubs for “reeducation, ideological indoctrination, and militarization of children.”

Russian officials deny illegally taking Ukrainian children from their country, instead portraying their involvement as a humanitarian gesture -- sheltering, feeding, or protecting minors from the war -- or as a necessity due to the breakdown of services in regions of Ukraine because of the conflict, now in its fifth year.

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Most Of Those Sanctioned Are Women

Rather unusually for EU sanctions, the majority of those proposed to be targeted with asset freezes and visa bans in this batch are women.

Some of them are heads of various camps and educational institutions in which the Ukrainian children are placed such as Lilya Shvetsova who is in charge of the Red Carnation camp that according to Brussels offers a program that “includes educational and training activities promoting pro-Russian narratives, patriotic messaging, and elements of military-patriotic instruction.”

Another, Natalya Shevchuk, is described as heading several “military-patriotic clubs” in Ukrainian territory under Russian control with the goal of pushing “narratives portraying the Russian Federation as a “peacekeeping” and humanitarian actor, while disseminating pro-Russian ideology and undermining Ukrainian national identity among minors in occupied territory.”

Several others of those targeted, such as children’s ombudsmen and commissioners for children’s rights, are also in charge of resettling young Ukrainians into Russian families whereas blacklistings also include those involved in giving paramilitary training to minors or facilitating meetings with Russian military personnel, initiatives often supported by the Kremlin under the slogan “Dialogues with Heroes.”

The new sanctions come ahead of a gathering of foreign ministers from Canada, Ukraine, and the EU, along with high-level officials from nearly 50 countries, in Brussels on May 11 to discuss ways to return Ukrainian children.

The meeting is organized by the International Coalition for the Return of Ukrainian Children, which was launched by Canada and Ukraine two years ago and now includes 47 members, including most European nations, Australia, Japan, and the United States.

So far, the coalition and its members have ensured the return to Ukraine of about 1,600 children, while the coalition estimates that “thousands” still remain.

According to the invitation to the meeting, seen by RFE/RL, the focus of the gathering will be on developing several policy tools to make sure the children can be brought back to Ukraine.

The tools listed include improved tracing and verification systems, support actors such as Ukrainian and international NGOs involved in various return efforts, increased financing for post-return protection mechanisms ,and stepping up work on sanctioning people involved in the deportations.

Copyright (c)2025 RFE/RL, Inc. Used with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty 

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