London, May 11 (PTI) The UK on Monday imposed a new set of sanctions against what it termed as Russia’s “hostile and heinous activity at every level”, directly targeting 85 individuals and entities. The UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) said the latest tranche of sanctions cracks down on the Kremlin’s malicious information warfare campaigns. It comes in response to what has been branded as Russian President Vladimir Putin’s systematic campaign to forcibly deport and militarise Ukrainian children and, more recently, attempts to interfere in upcoming Armenian elections.
“The UK will not stand idly by as Putin seeks to sow lies and pro-Kremlin narratives abroad,” said UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper.
“Today’s sanctions are a strong step in exposing and disrupting the depths Russia is willing to go, to interfere and undermine democracy, and destroy Ukraine’s future through the abhorrent deportation and indoctrination of Ukrainian children. “The UK’s support for Ukraine remains ironclad and we will continue to work alongside our allies to support every effort to identify and trace the children that have been cruelly taken from their communities and bring them home,” she said. Those on the latest sanctions list include 49 individuals working for the Social Design Agency (SDA), including writers, translators and video makers accused of deceptive Kremlin propaganda. The SDA has been tasked and funded by the Kremlin to deliver a series of interference operations designed to undermine democracy and weaken support for Ukraine, the FCDO said. “In continuing to expose Russia’s hostile and malign activities, the UK is today calling out that the Social Design Agency has planned campaigns which were almost certainly tasked by the Russian Presidential Administration, including seeking to establish pro-Russia organisations in Armenia and influence a change in power towards pro-Russia figures,” the FCDO said.
It also claimed that sanctioned entity ANO Dialog is tasked by the Russian Presidential Administration and has worked alongside Russian intelligence services to carry out “malign influence campaigns” on behalf of the government of Russia. ANO Dialog is also said to have coordinated with Russian intelligence on interference plans aimed at Armenian domestic politics. The Centre for Military Sports Training and Patriotic Education of Youth, known as the ‘Warrior Centre’, has been sanctioned for reportedly subjecting Ukrainian children to “military training and pro-Kremlin ideology”.
Yulia Sergeevna Velichko, Minister for Youth Policy in the so-called “Luhansk People’s Republic”, is on the UK sanctions list for her alleged role in implementing state-led initiatives for the deportation and indoctrination of Ukrainian children, including the issuing of Russian passports to children from temporarily occupied territories and organising programmes that expose them to Russian ideology.
The announcement came as UK Sanctions Minister Stephen Doughty travels to Brussels to attend a high-level meeting of the International Coalition for the Return of Ukrainian Children.
While in Brussels, the minister announced a further 1.2 million pounds of UK funding for the Verification Centre and Tracing Mechanism – helping to identify and locate Ukrainian children who have been cruelly taken from their homes. The UK government said it has so far sanctioned over 3,300 targets to clamp down on those fuelling Russia’s war efforts, from disrupting military supply chains to tackling the weaponisation of irregular migration. PTI AK ZH ZH
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