London's new sanctions against Moscow based on distortion of facts — Russian embassy

LONDON, May 11. /TASS/. Britain's new sanctions against Russian youth organizations are based on a distortion of facts about children rescued from the war zone, the Russian embassy in London said in a commentary shared with TASS. "Unlawful restrictive measures have been imposed against those who selflessly rescue children in the frontline zone amid barbaric bombardments with Western, including British, weapons. They are being imposed against those who care for children evacuated to safety and restore their childhood. The fabrications, steeped in malice and frustration, about the alleged forced displacement of 20,000 children from Ukrainian territory to Russia, have been convincingly refuted numerous times. This is as brazen a disinformation campaign as the Bucha incident. London has made lies one of its main weapons in Ukraine from the very beginning and continues to innovate in manipulating and distorting the facts, while simultaneously blaming others," the embassy’s statement reads. The Russian embassy drew attention to Britain's selective approach to children. "Meanwhile, Kiev's mass violations of the fundamental rights of minors remain unaddressed. Yet they are effectively deprived of state protection. According to the State Service of Ukraine for Children, as of January 1, 2026, 72,609 minors are in difficult life circumstances. Ukrainian children are being trafficked to EU countries and the US, including for adoption into LGBT families (the LGBT movement is recognized as extremist in Russia and banned - TASS), recruited for criminal purposes to commit sabotage and terrorist attacks, taught militant Russophobia and xenophobia, and the glorification of Ukrainian Nazi collaborators," the embassy said. On Monday, Britain expanded its anti-Russian sanctions list by 85 items. Specifically, it included the head of Rosmolodyozh youth affairs agency, Grigory Gurov; the chief of staff of the Yunarmiya movement, Vladislav Golovin; the military-sports training and patriotic education center for youth, Voin (Warrior), and its director, Dmitry Shevchenko; the Commissioner for Children's Rights in the Novosibirsk Region, Nadezhda Boltenko; and children's and health facilities in Crimea.