Key facts
- The U.K. sanctioned seven Russian individuals on October 1 for their alleged role in the forced deportation and re-education of Ukrainian children.
- The sanctions include asset freezes and travel bans.
- The targeted individuals include leaders of Russia's state-backed "Movement of the First" and the National Center for Assistance to Missing and Injured Children.
- Russia has reportedly abducted tens of thousands of Ukrainian children since the full-scale invasion began.
- The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova in 2023 for their role in child abductions.
The U.K. has imposed sanctions on seven Russian individuals accused of orchestrating the forced deportation and re-education of Ukrainian children from occupied territories, according to a statement from Bring Kids Back, an initiative of the Ukrainian President, on October 2. The sanctions, announced on October 1, include asset freezes and travel bans.
Russia is accused of militarizing Ukrainian children, stripping them of their identity to create "future soldiers" and involve them in conflict against their own people. Since the full-scale invasion, Russia has reportedly abducted tens of thousands of Ukrainian children. Ukraine's Justice Ministry has officially confirmed 20,610 cases of deportation as of September 2026, though Ukrainian officials estimate the true number could be in the hundreds of thousands.
The sanctioned individuals include Artur Orlov, head of Russia's state-backed "Movement of the First," and five heads of its regional branches in occupied parts of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia oblasts, as well as Crimea. The Movement of the First, established in 2022 on the initiative of Russian President Vladimir Putin, reportedly has over 344,600 members in occupied Ukrainian territories, according to an OSCE expert mission report.
Also sanctioned is Elena Milskaya, chair of the board of trustees of Russia's National Center for Assistance to Missing and Injured Children. Ukraine's military intelligence agency stated that Milskaya used volunteers from this organization in October 2022 to facilitate the mass abduction and unlawful deportation of Ukrainian children, including orphans, from occupied territories to Russia's Krasnodar Krai via occupied Crimea.
At least three of the sanctioned individuals—Orlov, Denis Chernobay, and Milskaya—have previously faced sanctions from Canada, and Milskaya has also been sanctioned by the European Union. "When the same names appear on the lists of different countries, they have fewer places to hide their money or to hide themselves," said Vladyslav Vlasiuk, Commissioner of the President of Ukraine for Sanctions Policy, urging other partners to align their decisions.
The U.K.'s sanctions were part of a broader package targeting 31 individuals for their alleged roles in Russia's war against Ukraine. This package also includes eight people accused of arbitrary detention, torture, and ill-treatment of civilians in occupied Ukrainian territories. "We are targeting both the revenues that help sustain Russia's aggression and the perpetrators of horrendous crimes against Ukrainian civilians, including children," said UK Minister for Europe Lord Wood of Anfield.