The Akhmat-Hadzhi Kadyrov Regional Public Foundation, its head and mother of Chechnya’s leader Aymani Kadyrova, and Zamid Chalaev, commander of the special police regiment of the Chechen Interior Ministry named after Akhmat Kadyrov, have been added to the new UK sanctions list.
The UK government updated its sanctions targeting individuals and organisations suspected of involvement in the forced deportation and ideological indoctrination of Ukrainian children. The measures include entry bans and asset freezes, according to the Foreign Office’s statement released on Wednesday.
Since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale war in Ukraine, close to 20,000 children have been confirmed as having been forcibly removed from the country, according to Ukraine’s Children of War database.
Only around 1,600 of those have since been returned, the database said.
The Kadyrov Foundation, often referred to as the ‘shadow treasury’ of Chechen Head Ramzan Kadyrov, was said to have taken part in Russian government programmes of military-patriotic training for Ukrainian children in Russian-occupied territories. The foundation was previously sanctioned by the US in August 2023 and by the EU in June 2024.
Also sanctioned by the UK is Chalaev, who was listed as being ‘responsible for policies or actions that destabilise Ukraine, undermine its territorial integrity, or threaten it’.
Chalaev is already under EU sanctions for organising ‘military re-education’ camps in Chechnya for children taken from Ukraine by Russian forces. In 2021, the Russian independent media outlet Novaya Gazeta published testimonies of abuses committed against local residents by Chalaev’s subordinates.
In addition to the foundation, Kadyrov’s mother and Chalaev, the updated UK sanctions list includes the pro-government youth movements Movement of the First and Volunteers of Victory, as well as Tatarstan’s Deputy Prime Minister Leila Fazleeva and the republic’s Youth Minister Rinat Sadykov.
Before the recent additions, UK sanctions had already targeted dozens of individuals and organisations in connection with the deportation and ‘military upbringing’ of Ukrainian minors. In total, the list now contains 1,808 individuals and 498 legal entities.
Commenting on the new measures, UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy condemned the Kremlin’s policy of ‘forced deportations and indoctrination of Ukrainian children’. He said this showed how Russian President Vladimir ‘Putin is also deporting Ukrainian children and trying to erase their heritage through lies and disinformation’.
Following the announcement, Kadyrov issued a sharp response on his Telegram channel, calling the expansion of UK sanctions ‘absurd and hypocritical’. He expressed anger that his mother and his ‘dear brother’ Chalaev had been targeted. Kadyrov said his mother ‘leads a quiet life, helping those in need’, while Chalaev is ‘a devoted son of his people and a defender of peace’.
‘To punish him with sanctions for faithfully fulfilling his duty is to demonstrate fear of strong and principled people. These actions prove that the West is guided neither by morality nor by law, but by hatred and Russophobia. This is the lowest level of rotten Western politics, a clear demonstration of weakness and double standards’, Kadyrov added.
In 2021, Chalaev claimed that Kadyrov had ‘taken him out of a psychiatric hospital’ and made him a Hero of Russia. In May 2022, Kadyrov appointed him ‘responsible for the Luhansk front’ in the full-scale war against Ukraine.
Australia has also expanded its sanctions against Russia. Foreign Minister Penny Wong announced on Wednesday that the list now includes 14 individuals linked to the suppression of political opposition and support for the war in Ukraine. Among those targeted are entrepreneur Ilgam Ragimov, known as a close associate of Putin, co-founder of the Ural Mining and Metallurgical Company Andrei Kozitsyn, Radik Shaimiev, son of the former president of Tatarstan, Moscow Deputy Mayor Maksim Liksutov, and media entrepreneur Kristina Potupchik.
Xandie (Alexandra) Kuenning
