Embassy comment on London’s latest tranche of anti-Russian sanctions

Amid the celebrations marking Victory in the Great Patriotic War, the UK government has once again distinguished itself by introducing another batch of baseless and illegitimate anti-Russian sanctions.

This time, the emotionally manipulative issue of children has come to the fore. Unlawful restrictive measures have been imposed on those who selflessly rescue children from frontline areas subjected to barbaric strikes using Western – including British – weaponry. These restrictions target individuals who care for children taken to safety and help them to reclaim some semblance of a normal childhood.

The malicious and frustrated allegations of the forcible transfer of 20,000 children from Ukraine to Russia have been repeatedly proven false. They amount to the same kind of brazen disinformation as the events staged in Bucha.

From the outset, London has used falsehoods as one of its main tools in relation to Ukraine, and it continues to refine its methods of manipulation and distortion while simultaneously accusing others of doing the same.

Meanwhile, Kiev’s mass violations of the children’s fundamental rights continue to go unnoticed. In practice, these kids have effectively been left without state protection. According to Ukraine’s State Service for Children, 72,609 minors were classified as living in difficult circumstances as of 1 January 2026. Ukrainian children are being taken to EU countries and the United States, including for adoption by LGBT families, and are being recruited for criminal activities involving sabotage and terrorism. They are also being indoctrinated with militant Russophobia and xenophobia, and are being taught to glorify Ukrainian collaborators with the Nazis.

Against the backdrop of the recent lobbying expedition to Yerevan by Western European politicians, the British accusations of interference in Armenia’s elections seem even more absurd. London’s neo-colonial policy, which previously facilitated the coup in Kiev, is now being directed at Armenia. The West would do well to stop interfering in the affairs of sovereign nations, as it recently did in Moldova and Romania. The pot is calling the kettle black.