US imposes sanctions against Artek and Kadyrov’s mother

The Office of Foreign Assets Control of the US Department of the Treasury (OFAC) added the Artek children’s center and 11 individuals to the SDN list, including the mother of the head of Chechnya, Aimani Kadyrova, should from the department’s announcement.

In addition to restrictions on Artek, sanctions have been imposed against the head of the camp, Konstantin Fedorenko.

The sanctions also affected Human Rights Ombudsman in Chechnya Mansur Soltaev, commander of the special police regiment named after Kadyrov Zamid Chalaev and Chairman of the Chechen government Muslim Khuchiev, commissioners for children’s rights in the Belgorod, Rostov, Kaluga regions Galina Pyatykh, Irina Cherkasova and Irina Ageeva, as well as the rector Sevastopol State University Vladimir Nechaev. In addition, the SDN list includes persons who are marked as citizens of Ukraine. In particular, these are the chief of staff of the regional branch of the Yunarmiya in Sevastopol Vladimir Kovalenko and the Minister of Education and Science of the Zaporozhye region Elena Shapurova.

US President Joe Biden in a statement on the occasion of Ukraine’s Independence Day announced about new sanctions against Russia. He specified that the restrictions would be aimed at “bringing to justice those responsible for the forced displacements” of Ukrainian children.

In July, the UK imposed sanctions on Artek. Support for the “forced deportation of Ukrainian children” to Russia was cited as the reason for this decision. Press Secretary of the President of Russia Dmitry Peskov shamed London for this and named decision “top of insanity.”

Western countries have repeatedly accused Russia of “kidnapping” Ukrainian children. Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova called these statements false and cynical, since Moscow evacuated children from the war zone and all the people left voluntarily, “saving their lives and the lives of their children.” Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov clarified that the names and coordinates of the location of children evacuated from Ukraine to Russia from the war zone are known and are not hidden.