The EU’s diplomatic service presented on Wednesday additional listings targeting 27 Russian individuals and entities involved in the forced deportation and indoctrination of Ukrainian children.
EU ambassadors reviewed the new blacklisting at their first meeting since the summer recess. It is expected to be adopted by the end of the month.
It is not the first time Brussels has targeted those responsible for Russia’s illegal mass abduction, deportation and re-education of minors from Ukraine’s occupied territories. Several individual listings have already featured in previous sanctions packages.
In May, EU countries blacklisted 16 individuals and seven entities to mark the high-level meeting of the International Coalition for the Return of Ukrainian Children. A follow-up conference is due to take place in Toronto, Canada, on 28-29 September.
Following Wednesday’s presentation, further technical work is required to finalise the listing, as legal checks must ensure the sanctions are robust enough to withstand challenges in court.
The European External Action Service (EEAS) has also shared with member states a list of 1,600 individuals and entities directly contributing to Russia’s war effort, part of a broader shift away from large, sector-focused sanctions packages.
Ukraine has verified the deportation of more than 20,500 children to Russia to date. Yale’s Humanitarian Research Lab estimates the number may be closer to 35,000, while Moscow has openly suggested it could be as high as 700,000.
The US-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW) think tank said that the true number of deported children is almost impossible to verify.
Euronews reported earlier that Russia-installed occupation authorities in Ukraine’s regions created an online “catalogue” of Ukrainian children, offering them for coerced “adoption” through the education department.
The minors are reportedly sorted and categorised so users can “filter” them by age, gender, and physical characteristics such as eye and hair colour. The children are also described in terms of personality traits, with some labelled as “obedient” or “calm.”
For Ukraine it can take years to return one child from Russia after abduction, from the beginning of the identification until the return takes place.
Almost every return so far has been mediated by a third state, notably Qatar, South Africa and the Vatican.
In March the United Nations said that the deportation and forcible transfer of Ukrainian children to Russia constitutes a crime against humanity and a war crime.