EU preparing sanctions against Russians abducting Ukrainian children - media

The European Union is planning to introduce restrictive measures against individuals involved in the abduction of Ukrainian children as part of a new package of sanctions against Russia.

That's according to EUobserver, Ukrinform reports.

The sanctions list will include 62 individuals against whom the EU intends to introduce restrictions.

Among them are military personnel, local politicians, propagandists, etc.

The blacklist names three Russian politicians — Lenara Ivanova, Vyacheslav Dukhin, and Tatiana Moskalkova — to face a visa-ban and asset-freeze for helping to organize mass abductions of Ukrainian children from temporarily occupied Ukrainian territories.

Read also: Number of children injured by Russian forces in Ukraine climbs to 926

The blacklist is accompanied by "evidence packages" designed to stand up to a legal challenge in the European Court of Justice, making those named more likely to end up in any post-war tribunals.

It comes on top of 1,412 Russians already listed by the EU.

On February 17, the Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights, Dmytro Lubinets, said about 150,000 Ukrainian children illegally abducted from Ukraine could stay in Russia.