LONDON – The United Kingdom imposed financial penalties Tuesday on 35 individuals and organizations accused of helping Russia recruit vulnerable migrants as soldiers and manufacture military drones for the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.
British officials announced 17 sanctions under the country’s global migration violations program, targeting what they described as human trafficking operations that transport people to serve as expendable troops on the battlefield.
An additional 18 sanctions were imposed under Britain’s existing Russia penalties program, with several targeting a recruitment scheme that officials say employed misleading tactics to enlist people, primarily from Cameroon, for drone manufacturing operations.
“The practice of exploiting vulnerable people to prop up Russia’s failing and illegal war in Ukraine is barbaric,” stated Sanctions Minister Stephen Doughty.
Doughty explained that the penalties are designed to “disrupt the operations of those trafficking migrants as cannon fodder and feeding (Russian President Vladimir) Putin’s drone factories with illicit components.”
