Britain has sanctioned 14 Russian officials, including two government ministers, for what it says is their role in Russia's forced relocation of tens of thousands of Ukrainian children since the start of Moscow's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine in February last year.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) in March issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin, accusing him of being responsible for the illegal deportation of children from Ukraine, which constitutes a war crime.
The Ukrainian government says it has identified almost 20,000 children who have been deported or separated from their parents or guardians during the war.
Among those added to the list of sanctions on July 17 are Russian Education Minister Sergei Kravtsov and Culture Minister Olga Lyubimova, the British government said in a statement.
"In his chilling program of forced child deportation, and the hate-filled propaganda spewed by his lackeys, we see Putin’s true intention -- to wipe Ukraine from the map," British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said.
"Today’s sanctions hold those who prop up Putin’s regime to account, including those who would see Ukraine destroyed, its national identity dissolved, and its future erased," Cleverly said.
Several regional officials, including Vladimir Solodov, the governor of Russia's remote Far Eastern region of Kamchatka, as well as Moscow-installed officials from Ukraine's eastern regions that are currently under Russian occupation, were also added to the sanctions list for their role in the illegal deportation of Ukrainian children.
Earlier this month, Grigory Karasin, the chief of the international committee in Russia's upper house of parliament -- the Federation Council -- said it had brought some 700,000 children from Ukrainian conflict zones into Russia for their own "protection."
Last month, the European Union added 71 people and 33 entities to those banned from the EU and froze any assets they hold in EU jurisdiction for involvement in the illegal deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia.
The ICC's arrest warrant in Putin's name leaves in doubt his physical participation in a summit next month of the BRICS countries -- Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. The summit will be hosted by South Africa, a country that is a member of the ICC and would be expected to arrest Putin if he sets foot in the country.
South Africa hasn't condemned Russia's invasion of Ukraine, saying it remains impartial.
Neither Ukraine nor Russia are ICC members.
The ICC also said in March that a warrant had also been issued for Maria Lvova-Belova, a Russian children's rights official who allegedly directed the removal of Ukrainian children to Russia.
