Canadian government has added eight individuals to its sanctions list for their involvement in the alleged unlawful deportation and forcible transfer of Ukrainian children, as well as their exposure to indoctrination and militarisation.

The measure, which was announced during the visit of the President of Ukraine to Canada early in September, was effective September 4.

Canada is a co-chair of the International Coalition for the Return of Ukrainian Children and one of the states working systematically to establish the personal responsibility of those who run Russia’s machinery for removing and re-educating children.

Reacting to the development, Head, Bring Kids Back UA, Maksym Maksymov, commended Canada for this decision and for consistently keeping the issue of Ukrainian children on the international agenda, both as a co-chair of the coalition and as a state that turns the issue into concrete action.

“Every decision of this kind makes responsibility personal. Behind the deportations, there are no abstract ‘circumstances of war but specific people with names and positions – officials, heads of youth movements, directors of boarding institutions.

“Canada’s sanctions put this on the record and narrow the space in which these people can act with impunity. Until every Ukrainian child is home, the pressure on those involved in their abduction must only increase”, Maksymov said.

The individuals sanctioned, include, Head, Federal Agency for Youth Affairs (Rosmolodezh) and former Chairman, Board of the children and youth movement – “Movement of the First”, Grigory Gurov

He implements programmes that involve removing Ukrainian children from the temporarily occupied territories to Russia and integrating them into the Russian educational system; Chairman, Board of the all-Russian children and youth movement, Artur Orlov and Head of the so-called regional branch of the “Movement of the First” in occupied Donetsk, Denis Chernobay.

Others Vladimir Khromov, Elena Milskaya, Aleksandr Kurenkov, Vitaliy Suk and Alexandra Kulgina, an official in the youth structures of the occupation administration in Donetsk, involved in drawing children and young people from the occupied territories into Russian “youth” and labour programmes.

Government of Canada said that new sanctions against Russia now cover more than 3,500 individuals and entities, with over 600 shadow-fleet vessels listed separately.

Bring Kids Back UA is an initiative of the President of Ukraine, launched in 2023 to unite the efforts of Ukraine and its international partners for the return of Ukrainian children abducted by Russia.

The initiative works across the following tracks: search and verification of data, the physical return of children, reintegration after return, the restoration of justice and holding Russia accountable, and strategic communications and advocacy.

As of August 28, 2,510 children, who had been deported, forcibly displaced or who remained in the temporarily occupied territories were brought home under the initiative.