The UK government has announced a new round of sanctions targeting 35 individuals and entities accused of exploiting vulnerable migrants and supporting Russia’s drone manufacturing for its war against Ukraine.
According to the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, the measures aim to disrupt what officials described as networks deceptively recruiting migrants from abroad, promising legitimate work before forcing them into frontline combat or coercive labor in Russia’s military sector.
Sanctions Minister Stephen Doughty described the practices as “barbaric,” saying the exploitation of migrants has become a deliberate tool to sustain Russia’s war effort.
“These sanctions expose and disrupt the operations of those trafficking migrants as cannon fodder and feeding Putin’s drone factories with illicit components to target innocent civilians and vital infrastructure,” Doughty said.
The sanctions were imposed under the UK’s Global Migration and Human Trafficking Regime, designating nine individuals and five companies directly linked to trafficking foreign nationals into Russia.
A further three individuals were sanctioned for the instrumentalization of migration, which British officials said is designed to destabilize Ukraine and European security.
Among those sanctioned is Pavel Nikitin, whose company develops the VT‑40 drone, used extensively by Russian forces against Ukraine.
The UK also sanctioned Polina Alexandrovna Azarnykh, who is alleged to have facilitated the transfer of recruits from Egypt, Iraq, Ivory Coast, Morocco, Nigeria, Syria, and Yemen through Russia to Ukraine, where they were deployed with minimal training and in dangerous conditions.
Nigeria has previously warned its citizens against accepting offers to fight in foreign wars, citing what it called “rising and alarming cases” of illegal recruitment amid reports that its nationals have been killed in Ukraine.
UK authorities said the network recruits migrants “in search of a better life,” then deploys them either to Russian military units fighting in Ukraine or to weapons production facilities, including at sites linked to drone manufacturing.
Sanctioned targets also include individuals and companies based in third countries, including Thailand and China, accused of supplying drone components and other critical military goods to Russia.
The UK government said the action demonstrates its continued commitment to undermine Russia’s military supply chains, counter hybrid threats, and support Ukraine to achieve a just and lasting peace.
London said it would continue coordinating with international partners to expand sanctions pressure and hold those enabling Russia’s war, accountable.