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UK Government Imposes More Magnitsky Sanctions On Putin’s Supporters, Including Patriarch Kirill

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On June 16, 2022, the U.K. Government announced a new wave of the Magnistky sanctions on some of the perpetrators and also Putin’s supporters and enablers. Those sanctioned include, Maria Lvova-Belova, Russian Children’s Rights Commissioner, for her alleged involvement in the forced transfer and adoption of Ukrainian children, Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, sanctioned for his support and endorsement of Putin’s war; and Four Military Colonels from the 64th Separate Motorized Rifle Brigade, a unit known to have killed, raped, and tortured civilians in Bucha, among others. Announcing sanctions, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss commented that “Today we are targeting the enablers and perpetrators of Putin’s war who have brought untold suffering to Ukraine, including the forced transfer and adoption of children.”

Maria Lvova-Belova stands accused of enabling 2,000 vulnerable children being forcibly displaced from the Luhansk and Donetsk regions and subjecting them to forced adoptions in Russia. This is not a new allegation of this sort. In April 2022, Lyudmila Denysova, Ukraine’s Human Rights Commissioner, indicated that more than 121,000 children have been forcibly deported to Russia over recent weeks. This number includes orphaned children and those who have one or both parents. Denysova further added that Russia is “mak[ing] changes to the legislation to organize the accelerated procedure of adoption of children from Donbas.” According to Denysova, “Russia repeats the 2014 scenario when it was taken out of the occupied Crimea of Ukrainian children so-called ‘train of hope’ for their adoption.”

Patriarch Kirill stands accused of supporting and endorsing Putin’s war. The role of religious leaders, such as Patriarch Kirill, cannot be neglected here. As reported in a new expert legal analysis, “Religious authorities [in Russia] have reinforced the narrative praising the invasion with innuendo and spiritual meaning. On March 13, the Head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow, gifted an Orthodox icon to Gen. and Director of the Russian National Guard Viktor Zolotov in order to ‘inspire young soldiers’ who are ‘on the path to defending the Fatherland’.” Such support of religious leaders must be dully investigated. The sanctioning comes after Pope Francis warned Patriarch Kirill not to “turn himself into Putin’s altar boy.” It is also crucial to emphasize that there are some religious leaders who speak against the war and face consequences, including prosecution for a public offense aimed at “discrediting the Russian armed forces which are conducting a special military operation” and lengthy imprisonment as a result.

Four sanctioned Military Colonels from the 64th Separate Motorized Rifle Brigade, stand accused of committing horrific atrocities in Bucha, including mass killings, rape and sexual violence, torture and much more.

The new sanctions further target organizations responsible for supplying aircraft parts to the Myanmar Armed Forces. The move is aimed at limiting Myanmar’s military junta and “cut[ing] Putin off from profiting from sales that fund his war machine.” The issue was recently brought to light by Amnesty International in their report “Bullets Rained from the Sky.” The report concluded that, among others, the Myanmar’s military has increased it’s use of “air strikes in civilian areas, relying on both legacy systems and newer fighters, including Russian and Chinese jets” and that “the Myanmar air force fly several legacy systems, such as Russian MiG-29s and Chinese F-7s, that can and do conduct air strikes against EAOs across the country.”

As Putin’s war rages on, it is crucial to explore what other steps can and must be taken to prevent further atrocities. Furthermore, as identified in a recent expert legal analysis, there is a serious risk of genocide (and even evidence of incitement to commit genocide, a crime in itself) and as such, States are to “employ all means reasonably available to them, so as to prevent genocide so far as possible.” The Magnitsky sanctions are important means that can be employed by States to prevent the serious risk of genocide from materializing. Other States should join the U.K. in targeting not only the perpetrators but also the supporters and the enablers.

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