LOC15:40
12:40 GMT
LONDON, Sept 3 (KUNA) -- The UK Wednesday imposed sanctions on Russian authorities accused of "forcibly deporting, indoctrinating, and militarising Ukrainian children."
The British Foreign Office said in a statement that new sanctions target those supporting President Vladimir Putin's attempts to forcibly deport and indoctrinate Ukraine's children and erase their Ukrainian cultural heritage.
It explained that the package includes 11 leading Russian officials and 3 state-linked youth organizations.
Defense intelligence demonstrates that Russia is pursuing long-standing Russification policy in the illegally and temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, seeking to eradicate Ukrainian cultural identity and statehood, it added.
According to the statement, British Foreign Secretary David Lammy said, "to take a child from their home and seek to forcibly erase their heritage and upbringing through lies and disinformation can never be tolerated. No child should ever be a pawn of war and that is why we are holding those responsible to account."
To date, more than 19,500 Ukrainian children have been forcibly transferred or deported by Russian authorities to Russia and the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine.
An estimated 6,000 Ukrainian children have been relocated to a network of re-education camps. where they are subjected to indoctrination efforts which seek to erode their Ukrainian identity and instill pro-Russian sentiments -- a strategy dating back to Russia's illegal annexation of Crimea over a decade ago. (end)
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