LONDON -Britain on Thursday said it had sanctioned Russian Children's Rights Commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova and the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, as part of a new wave of sanctions against Russia over the Ukrainian crisis.
The Foreign Office said it had sanctioned Lvova-Belova for the forced transfer and adoption of Ukrainian children, while Kirill was targeted for "his prominent support of Russian military aggression in Ukraine".
The statement added that four senior military officials from a unit "known to have killed, raped, and tortured civilians" in the Ukrainian town of Bucha were also sanctioned.
"We are targeting the enablers and perpetrators of (Russian President Vladimir) Putin's war who have brought untold suffering to Ukraine, including the forced transfer and adoption of children," Britain's Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said in a statement.
The government said the sanctions also targeted Putin's allies, military commanders and Russian and Myanmar arms dealers.
Major western countries have announced massive sanctions against the former Soviet republic in recent months over what they say was an invasion of Ukraine in February. Moscow has termed it a special military operation, claiming its aim was to disarm and "denazify" its neighbour.