EU Targets Russians With Sanctions     05/12 06:21

   

   BRUSSELS (AP) -- The European Union on Monday imposed sanctions on 16 
officials accused of helping Russia to abduct tens of thousands of children 
from Ukraine and force many to change their identities or be put up for 
adoption.

   Sanctions were also slapped on seven centers suspected of indoctrinating the 
children or training them to serve in the armed forces, either for Russia or 
pro-Russian militias inside Ukraine.

   Over 130 people and "entities" are now under EU travel bans and asset 
freezes over the abductions.

   EU headquarters said the measures target "those responsible for the 
systematic unlawful deportation, forced transfer, forced assimilation, 
including indoctrination and militarized education, of Ukrainian minors, as 
well as their unlawful adoption and removal to the Russian Federation and 
within temporarily occupied territories."

   Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in early 2022, 
about 20,500 children have been unlawfully deported or forcibly transferred to 
Russia or Russian-held territories in eastern Ukraine.

   EU officials say many of the children are stripped of their Ukrainian 
identity and culture, given Russian passports and put up for adoption. Some are 
forced into schools for indoctrination or into military camps.

   "Russia is trying to erase their identity," Latvian Foreign Minister Baiba 
Brae said Monday at a meeting with EU counterparts in Brussels, where the 
sanctions were endorsed. "When you look at the Genocide Convention, it's one of 
the features of the genocide crime. So, it's very serious."

   The International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for Russian 
President Vladimir Putin for war crimes, accusing him of personal 
responsibility for the abductions.

   Around 2,200 children have been returned, but identifying them is 
complicated. Those taken at a young age can be difficult to recognize just a 
few years later. Getting them home is a harrowing task, and while Ukraine has 
reintegration structures in place some may face a long period of adaption when 
they return.

   The EU on Monday was hosting, alongside Canada, a meeting of the 47-country 
International Coalition for the Return of Ukrainian Children to increase 
diplomatic pressure on Russia and rally support for work to verify and trace 
those who are taken.

   "War has really many faces, but stealing the children is really one of the 
most horrific," EU Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos said ahead of the 
gathering. "We should stop this, and Russia should pay."

   The officials targeted by Monday's sanctions include the heads of children's 
camps, government representatives and military officers in charge of youth 
training.

   One of the 16 named was Lilya Shvetsova, head of the "Red Carnation" camp in 
occupied Crimea. The EU said she supervised "activities aimed at shaping the 
political and ideological views of children present at the facility, including 
Ukrainian children."

   Like others on the list, she was determined to be "supporting and 
implementing actions and policies contributing to the deportation, forced 
transfer, forced assimilation, including indoctrination, or militarized 
education of Ukrainian minors."