Key Takeaways
- The United Kingdom (UK) announced that it is levying sanctions against eight additional individuals and three organizations in connection with their role in Russia’s forced deportation, militarization, and indoctrination of Ukrainian children.
- Russian law enforcement bodies operating in occupied areas of Ukraine are increasingly contributing to the militarization of Ukrainian youth and encouraging them to inform on pro-Ukrainian or anti-Russian sentiment in their local communities.
- Russian occupation courts are using fabricated treason and espionage charges to punish Ukrainian journalists for reporting on the situation in occupied areas and coerce self-censorship amongst occupied populations.
Deportation and Forcible Transfer of Ukrainian Citizens, Including Children
The United Kingdom (UK) announced on September 3 that it is levying sanctions against eight additional individuals and three organizations in connection with their role in Russia’s forced deportation, militarization, and indoctrination of Ukrainian children.[1] UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy noted that these individuals and organizations are part of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s effort to “erase Ukrainian language, culture, and identity.” The sanctions list notably names Aymani Kadyrova, the mother of Chechen Republic Head Ramzan Kadyrov, and the Akhmat Kadyrov Foundation which Kadyrova heads, as perpetrators of Russia’s deportation and indoctrination campaign against Ukrainian children. The United States similarly sanctioned Kadyrova and the Akhmat Kadyrov Foundation in August 2023.[2] ISW has previously observed evidence that Kadyrov and other Chechen authorities are involved in the deportation of Ukrainian children — Kadyrov, for example, confirmed in November 2022 that he was overseeing the deportation of Ukrainian teenagers with behavioral problems to a military-patriotic training camp in Chechnya.[3] The UK sanctions list also includes the Russian Movement of the First civic youth engagement organization, which ISW has long assessed plays a critical role in the indoctrination and militarization of Ukrainian children in occupied areas, as well as in the deportation of Ukrainian children to indoctrination programs in the Russian Federation.[4]
Sociocultural Control
Nothing significant to report.
Militarization of Occupied Areas
Russian law enforcement bodies operating in occupied areas of Ukraine are increasingly contributing to the militarization of Ukrainian youth and encouraging them to inform on pro-Ukrainian or anti-Russian sentiment in their local communities. The occupied Donetsk Oblast-based Donetsk News Agency reported on September 3 that Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR)-affiliated youth organizations have “established cooperation” with Russian law enforcement agencies to “prevent extremism and terrorism among children and youth.”[5] Head of the DNR “Young Republic” youth organization Sergei Dobrovolsky told Donetsk News Agency that “Young Republic” is working with Rosgvardia, the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB), DNR Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD), and the Russian MVD’s Main Directorate for Combating Extremism (Center E) to teach children and youth about security and law enforcement issues. Closer interaction between Russian law enforcement bodies and children and youth in occupied areas will grant Russian security forces closer oversight in schools, which have already become increasingly securitized since Russia’s occupation of Ukraine. It will also encourage Ukrainian children and youth to inform on their classmates or even family members for perceived pro-Ukrainian or anti-Russian behavior, which is likely to have adverse effects on the long-term security of occupied communities.
Administrative and Bureaucratic Control
Nothing significant to report.
Physical and Legal Repressions
Russian occupation courts are using fabricated treason and espionage charges to punish Ukrainian journalists for reporting on the situation in occupied areas and coerce self-censorship amongst occupied populations. The Zaporizhia Oblast occupation court announced on September 2 that it charged an unnamed resident of occupied Melitopol with high treason and making public calls for extremist activity on the internet and sentenced him to 16 years in a strict regime penal colony.[6] Ukrainian and Russian opposition sources identified the sentenced man as journalist Heorhiy Levchenko, who was the administrator of the popular RIA-Melitopol Telegram channel, which reported on Russian activities and repressions in occupied Melitopol.[7] The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) detained Levchenko and another Telegram administrator in October 2023, accusing them of being part of a Ukrainian spy network in occupied Zaporizhia Oblast.[8] The Russian Southern Military District Court in Rostov-on-Don sentenced Vladyslav Hershon, the administrator of the second Telegram channel involved in the October 2023 arrests, to 15 years in a maximum security penal colony on September 3 on espionage and terrorism charges.[9] Reporters Without Borders (RSF) responded to Levchenko’s and Hershon’s sentencing as a “travesty of justice” perpetrated against media professionals.[10] RSF also noted that Russia detained seven total journalists and Telegram channel administrators during the October 2023 raids, several of whom are awaiting trial dates and some of whom have not been heard from since their arrests.[11]
Russia’s continued issuance of extreme and harsh sentences against Ukrainian journalists, reporters, and media activists working in occupied areas likely has the intended effect of forcing residents of occupied areas to self-censor out of fear of intense legal reprisal and potential physical harm. Such charges against journalists discourage independent investigative reporting on the situation in occupied areas, allow Russia to further consolidate control over the information space and closely control the flow of information in and out of occupied areas. Russia is supplementing such crackdowns against journalists and information space actors with efforts to institute the use of Kremlin-controlled media sources, satellite dishes, and social media networks.[12]
Economic and Financial Control
Nothing significant to report.
Information Space Control
Nothing significant to report.
Infrastructure and Development Projects
Nothing significant to report.
[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-sanctions-actors-forcibly-deporting-indoctrinating-and-militarising-ukrainian-children
[2] https://www.voanews.com/a/fact-check-us-justifiably-sanctions-chechen-leader-s-mother-for-involvement-in-illegally-deporting-ukrainian-children/7245731.html
[3] https://t.me/RKadyrov_95/3104
[4] https://understandingwar.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/24-210-0120ISW20Occupation20playbook.pdf; https://understandingwar.org/research/russia-ukraine/russian-occupation-update-july-31-2025/; https://understandingwar.org/research/russia-ukraine/russian-occupation-update-august-21-2025/; https://understandingwar.org/research/russia-ukraine/russian-occupation-update-july-3-2025/
[5] https://dan-news dot ru/exclusive/molodezhnye-organizacii-dnr-rabotajut-s-silovikami-dlja-profilaktiki-ekstremizma/
[6] https://oblsud.zpr dot sudrf.ru/modules.php?name=press_dep&op=1&did=90
[7] https://zona dot media/news/2025/09/02/Levchenko; https://khpg dot org/en/1608814939
[8] http://www.fsb dot ru/fsb/press/message/single.htm%21id%3D10439842%40fsbMessage.html
[9] https://zona dot media/news/2025/09/03/gershon
[10] https://rsf.org/en/first-sentences-against-ukrainian-news-workers-seized-melitopol-15-and-16-years-prison-covering
[11] https://rsf.org/en/first-sentences-against-ukrainian-news-workers-seized-melitopol-15-and-16-years-prison-covering
[12] https://understandingwar.org/research/russia-ukraine/russian-occupation-update-august-21-2025/; https://understandingwar.org/research/russia-ukraine/russian-occupation-update-july-14-2025/
