EU Council sanctions 10 individuals and 17 organizations over forced deportation of Ukrainian children

Why it matters

The sanctions directly target individuals and entities responsible for the systematic forced deportation of Ukrainian children, one of the most prominent humanitarian consequences of Russia's invasion. The package reaches across borders — the President of Tatarstan, ministers of the self-proclaimed "Donetsk People's Republic," Russian tourism and recreation companies, and a North Korean state-run children's camp — signalling the geographic spread of the deportation machinery. Sanctioned individuals face asset freezes and EU travel bans, materially restricting their ability to operate internationally. The package sits alongside other Western measures — UK sanctions, U.S. legislation and ICC arrest warrants — that together build a coordinated international legal and financial response to the deportation scheme.

What happened

On 28 September, the Council of the European Union adopted a decision imposing sanctions on 10 additional individuals and 17 organizations for actions undermining or threatening the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine. The package is directed at those responsible for the systematic illegal deportation and forced transfer of Ukrainian children to the Russian Federation and to temporarily occupied territories, as well as for forced assimilation, ideological indoctrination and militarized education of those children.

Among the sanctioned entities are the Moscow City Tourism Committee, two Russian companies in the children's recreation, tourism and entertainment sector that organize events devoted to Russian history, commemoration of the war and military-patriotic education, and children's camps and sports centers in Russia and on temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine for their role in propagandistic upbringing and integration of children into a Russian identity framework. The list also includes Songdowon International Children's Camp, a state institution in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, which participates in organized programs transferring Ukrainian children from temporarily occupied territories in coordination with the Russian Federation and in spreading pro-Russian narratives.

On the individual side, Rustam Minnikhanov, President of the Republic of Tatarstan, was sanctioned for facilitating the illegal deportation of Ukrainian children to camps located in his region. The list further includes the minister and deputy ministers of education and science of certain occupied territories, the minister of sport and tourism of the self-proclaimed "Donetsk People's Republic," and heads of children's camps and schools there.

Sanctioned individuals are subject to asset freezes; EU citizens and companies are prohibited from providing them with funds, financial assets or economic resources; and they are additionally subject to a ban on entering or transiting through EU territory.

Separately, on 22 September the Council of the EU adopted a decision extending the broader restrictive measures against persons responsible for undermining or threatening Ukraine's territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence for a further 36 months. In that same decision, Russian oligarchs Alisher Usmanov and Mikhail Fridman were removed from the list.

How Ukrainian sources describe it

All eight supplied articles are Ukrainian-language and from Ukrainian sources, so no Ukrainian-vs-international contrast can be drawn from the supplied metadata. The available coverage uniformly frames the package as a direct response to the forced deportation of Ukrainian children and lists the specific institutions, officials and a North Korean camp sanctioned alongside it.

Where reporting differs

The transliteration of the President of Tatarstan's surname differs across articles: most sources spell it "Minnikhanov," while one fact spells it "Minnihanov."

Background

On 22 September the Council of the EU extended by 36 months the broader restrictive measures against persons responsible for undermining or threatening Ukraine's territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence; in the same decision Russian oligarchs Alisher Usmanov and Mikhail Fridman were removed from the list.

On 17 March 2023 the International Criminal Court in The Hague issued arrest warrants for Vladimir Putin and Russia's children's rights commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova over the illegal transfer of Ukrainian children. In July 2023 the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine opened an investigation into the Belarusian Red Cross's alleged role in the deportation of Ukrainian children.

In May 2026 the United Kingdom sanctioned 85 Russian nationals, 29 of them linked to forced deportation, ideological indoctrination and militarization of Ukrainian children, and also sanctioned the Songdowon camp in North Korea. In September 2026 U.S. President Donald Trump signed a law broadening U.S. sanctions for the forced deportation of Ukrainian children to cover officials, institutions and intermediaries who organized or facilitated transfers.

According to the Bring Kids Back platform, Russia has deported over 20,000 children from Ukraine since the start of the full-scale invasion, and as of September 2026 over 2,500 of those children had been returned to Ukraine.