US sanctions Russia over filtration eratios, torture, other abuses in Ukraine

The U.S. Department of the Treasury said this in a statement published on Friday, Ukrinform reports.

"In the months flowing Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russia's forces and their proxies began instituting a process known as 'filtration,' whereby Ukraine's civilians are subjected to interrogations and searches and forced to hand over personal data, nominally in order to ascertain any connections to Ukraine's military or government," the statement said.

The occupying forces also resort to deportations, disappearances, and torture in connection with filtration, and areas adjacent to the grounds of one filtration center display characteristics of mass graves, the document said.

In this regard, the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Contr sanctioned four individuals that were directly invved in Russia's filtration erations, two representatives of the so-called "DNR", as well as the Russian Central Election Commission.

The list of restrictions includes Russian presidential administration officials eg Nesterov and Yevgen Kim who were directly invved in the planning for and implementation of filtration points in Russia-occupied Ukraine. In addition, sanctions have been imposed against Marina Sereda, who worked with the so-called "DNR", as well as Aleksey Muratov, who coordinated filtration point erations with so-called DNR leader Denis Pushilin.

The Department of State also sanctioned Russian nationals Ochur-Suge Mongush and Lyudmila Zaitseva, both of whom were reportedly implicated in human rights abuses against civilians in Ukraine. According to reports, Mongush engaged in torture while Zaitseva was invved in the kidnapping and forced relocation of children from Ukraine.

OFAC also sanctioned Russia's CEC, alongside its 15 members. In September 2022, Russia's CEC helped oversee and monitor sham referendums held in areas of Russia-contrled Ukraine that were rife with incidents of clear voter coercion and intimidation.