LONDON, July 17. /TASS/. The latest UK sanctions on Russia are unacceptable and legally null and void, the Russian embassy in London said in a statement on Monday.

"We view the decision by the UK government on 17 July 2023 to impose illegal unilateral restrictions against yet another group of Russian citizens and organizations as categorically unacceptable and legally void. The fact that this move was cynically covered up by the pretext of protection of children is particularly disturbing," the statement said.

"What is particularly cynical about the latest British measure is that it was taken literally a few hours following the terrorist attack by the Kiev regime against the Crimean Bridge, as a result of which a 14-year-old girl was wounded and lost both her parents. And after countless strikes by the armed forces of Ukraine against peaceful residents of the Donbass, Zaporozhye and Kherson regions with the use of UK-supplied shells and missiles. Strikes that claimed the lives of children and their parents," the embassy said.

The statement said the UK imposed the sanctions ahead of a UN Security Council meeting on Ukraine that will take place on Monday evening.

"The UK makes no secret of expanding its sanctions list ahead of the debate on the situation around Ukraine at the UN Security Council. London has grown accustomed to synchronizing such symbolic stunts with events where it wants to show off its "leadership" within the anti-Russian coalition. A clumsy attempt to impose pressure on the Russian side was also clearly intended. The new "package" will fall short of this goal. However, it is a vivid demonstration of the lack of scruples of the UK authorities and their detachment from reality, the abyss between their proclaimed objectives and underlying motives," the embassy said.

Restrictions from London

The illegitimate UK list now includes those who are helping to save and provide further care for children from the zone of the Special Military Operation. Among these are the Commissioner for Human Rights for the Donetsk People’s Republic, the Adviser on Children's Rights to the Head of the DPR, the Commissioner for Children’s Rights in the Moscow Region, as well as heads of Russian regions that provide shelter for the underage visitors. Even the legendary "Artek" camp. The Children's Rights Commissioner for the President of Russia would have been added to the list as well, had she not already been on it since last summer.

The UK Foreign Office on Monday announced sanctions on 13 Russian nationals and the children’s center Artek in Crimea. The restrictions that include the ban on entry to UK and the freezing of any assets found in the country were imposed on such Russians as Education Minister Sergey Kravtsov, Culture Minister Olga Lyubimova, Kamchatka Region Governor Vladimir Solodov, Adygeya Republic Governor Murat Kumpilov and the head of the Kharkov Region’s military-civilian administration, Vitaly Ganchev.

The Foreign Office said in a statement that the sanctioned individuals, including the Moscow Region Commissioner for Children’s Rights Ksenia Mishonova; the Donetsk People’s Republic Commissioner for Human Rights Darya Morozova; the Adviser on Children's Rights to the Head of the DPR, Eleonora Fedorenko; and the head of staff of the Sevastopol office of the Young Army Cadets National Movement, Vladimir Kovalenko helped an alleged deportation of Ukrainian children.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said at talks with African leaders on June 17 that the Russian government had acted absolutely legally in taking children out of the conflict zone in Ukraine and had never been opposed to having them reunited with their families.