From Reuters:
“US imposing sanctions over forced deportation, transfer of
Ukraine children”
The U.S. State Department on Thursday imposed sanctions on 13
people and entities it said are reportedly connected to the forced deportation
and transfer of Ukraine's children, as Washington ramps up pressure on Moscow
over its invasion. The United States is also taking steps to impose visa
restrictions on three Russia-installed purported authorities over their
involvement in human rights abuses of Ukrainian minors, the State Department
said in a statement. The sanctions coincided with Ukraine's Independence Day. "The
United States will not stand by as Russia carries out these war crimes and
crimes against humanity," U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Linda
Thomas-Greenfield told a UN Security Council meeting on Ukraine on Thursday.
Ukraine's government estimates that Russian authorities have
deported and/or forcibly displaced over 19,500 children from their homes since
Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Russia U.N. ambassador Vassily Nebenzia told
the Security Council that the Western countries were lying about alleged
abductions of Ukrainian children, adding that Russia was actually saving them. Moscow
says its program of bringing children from Ukraine into Russian territory is to
protect orphans and children abandoned in the conflict zone. "We urge
Washington to stop cynical use of children matters to settle geopolitical
scores," the Russian embassy to the U.S. said in a statement on Thursday
commenting on new sanctions. Among those hit with sanctions on Thursday was
Artek, which the State Department said is a Russian government-owned
"'summer camp' located in Russia-occupied Crimea." The State
Department said Artek has received Ukrainian children who are then placed in
"'patriotic' re-education programs" and are prevented from returning
to their families. Artek's director was also among those sanctioned on
Thursday.
Also targeted was the advisor to the governor of Belgorod,
the commissioners for children's rights in the Kaluga and Rostov regions, and
the chairman of the government of the Chechen Republic, among others. "The
United States continues to demonstrate its commitment to promoting
accountability for the atrocities and other abuses inflicted by Russia on the
people of Ukraine," U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a
statement.
The ICC issued arrest warrants in March for Putin and his
children's commissioner, Maria Lvova-Belova, accusing them of illegally
deporting hundreds of children from Ukraine - a war crime. "We're going to
keep calling attention to it, keep identifying the individuals and institutions
involved, and keep a highlight on it until these kids are reunited with their
families or in a community that reflects their proper upbringing. So we're just
going to keep at it," James O'Brien, head of the State Department's Office
of Sanctions Coordination, told Reuters.
The State Department on Thursday said that Russia uses a
variety of methods to transfer children from Ukraine, including taking them
from state institutions, deporting children during "filtration"
operations where Ukrainian civilians are evaluated for their perceived threat
to Russia's occupation, and by bringing them to supposed recreation camps in
Crimea and Russia. Thursday's action marks the latest round of sanctions
Washington has imposed on Moscow since its 2022 invasion of Ukraine, which has
killed tens of thousands of people and reduced cities to rubble.
^ Ukraine and these Ukrainian Children need more International
Awareness so that Russia stops its Cultural Genocide and stops kidnapping these
Ukrainian Children and “beating the Ukrainian out of them.” ^
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