US sanctions will significantly reduce Artek’s international contacts
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The sanctions imposed by the United States, following the UK, on the Artek Children’s International Center may significantly reduce its foreign contacts. Despite the difficult geopolitical situation, the camp continued to accept, among other things, children from Western countries. But now other countries may turn out to be in contact with the center, fearing secondary sanctions, lawyers do not rule out. This will reduce the role of Artek as an instrument of soft political influence.
FGBOU Artek International Children’s Center and its director Konstantin Fedorenko were included in the US sanctions list. About it on Thursday informed Ministry of Finance of the country. In Artek itself, Kommersant’s questions were not promptly answered. Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova in her Telegram channel spoke sharply about the decision of the American authorities, calling Artek a place “where conditions are created for healthy recreation and development of children.”
The Artek International Children’s Center in Gurzuf (Crimea) has existed since 1925 and is one of the largest in Russia. This year, Artek expects to receive 41.4 thousand children. This is not the first time the children’s center has been included in the sanctions lists. In July 2023, a similar decision regarding Artek was made by the UK.
Inclusion in the sanctions list entails a ban on American persons (both individuals and legal entities) from any interaction with Artek, including investments, supply of goods or services to it, explains Clement Rusakomsky, managing partner of the Paradigma legal group. Karina Annenkova, a lawyer at the Delcredere Bar Association, adds that the decision entails the blocking of all camp assets located in the United States.
Since there probably aren’t any, the lawyer believes that “inclusion in SDN can cause reputational damage to Artek in the first place.”
However, due to the risks of imposing secondary sanctions, not only American companies and citizens will avoid relations with the camp, points out the head of the international practice of Uppercase Legal Ratmir Proskurnov: “If you continue to interact with a person from the SDN list, the United States may recognize this as an attempt to circumvent the established restrictions. At the same time, the imposition of secondary sanctions on counterparties can actually paralyze their activities, including the possibility of blocking accounts.”
Georgy Mokhov, head of the legal committee of the Russian Union of Travel Industry, clarifies that a children’s camp that has been included in the sanctions list may encounter problems in the supply of equipment, restrictions on access to software. In addition, the head of the Union of organizers of children’s active tourism, Marina Nenarokova, suggests that getting into the sanctions lists will create difficulties in fulfilling obligations under international treaties. At the same time, visa and other restrictions may apply to officially employed employees of the children’s center, Ms. Nenarokova believes.
The organization can also be excluded from international cooperation programs that involve both the exchange of directly children’s groups and professional competencies, Mr. Mokhov believes. Participation in them, according to the expert, is usually considered quite prestigious for a children’s institution.
Mr. Proskurnov does not rule out that “the flow of children to the camp may be reduced for conservative reasons, because parents or companies organizing visits to the center do not want to take risks.”
Until now, guests from abroad have really come to Artek. So, in July of this year, the children’s center announced the holding of the international “Add to friends” session, which was visited by children from 50 countries, including Germany, Sweden, France, Australia, and Israel. Kommersant’s interlocutor in the children’s tourism market believes that Artek can to some extent be considered an instrument of political influence on the international environment through “soft power”. “Don’t underestimate the contacts that children form in early adolescence,” he says.
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