The European Union is preparing a new sanctions package that could include children’s camps in Russia, Crimea, and North Korea, as well as officials responsible for education in Ukrainian territories occupied by the Russian army. This was reported by Radio Liberty European correspondent Rikard Jozwiak; according to him, the editors have a copy of the draft, and the restrictions are planned to be approved in October.
The draft separately names the Raduga children’s health center of the Russian Presidential Property Management Department in Crimea. According to the EU, it receives Ukrainian children from territories not controlled by Kyiv, and the program includes daily raising of the Russian flag, classes on Russian history, military sports competitions, and military-themed excursions.
The list also names the All-Russian Children’s Center Ocean in Vladivostok, the Romashka and Sputnik camps in Rostov Oblast, Solnechny Bereg in Dagestan, Vita and Signal in Krasnodar Krai, as well as other children’s and educational centers in Russia and Crimea. The EU considers them part of a policy of assimilation and ideological indoctrination of Ukrainian children.
Also included separately in the draft is the international camp Songdowon in Wonsan in North Korea. The document calls it a state institution that receives Ukrainian children from annexed territories; formally, the trips are presented as cultural exchange, but according to the EU, pro-Russian propaganda is spread there and children are involved in events with elements of paramilitary training.
Restrictions may also be imposed on the head of Tatarstan, Rustam Minnikhanov, whom the document describes as one of the high-ranking Russian regional leaders involved in the forced transfer of Ukrainian children to Russia. The authors of the draft separately point to the placement of children in the Miras camp in Tatarstan, and among the other officials mentioned are Zaporizhzhia Oblast Education Minister Oleksandr Kaliagin, acting Minister of Education and Science of the so-called “DPR” Oleh Trofimov, Deputy Minister of Education of Crimea Svetlana Bespalova, and deputy head of the Russian administration of Yalta Renard Kutkovsky.
In total, Brussels is preparing sanctions against 1,600 individuals and legal entities. The previous, 21st EU sanctions package against Russia was approved on July 23; 170 organizations and 48 individuals were hit by the restrictions, as well as Russian banks and enterprises in the energy and defense sectors, and the measures were also extended to companies from third countries that, according to the EU, help Moscow circumvent the restrictions. Moscow considers the sanctions illegal and claims they will not help resolve the military conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
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