British families ‘unwittingly funding Russian kidnap of Ukrainian children after Labour watered down oil sanctions’, researchers warn

British families are unwittingly funding Vladimir Putin’s industrial-scale kidnapping of Ukrainian children after Labor watered down oil sanctions, researchers have warned.

Drivers are “paying the pump” to Russian firms that helped kidnap the oldest boy and girl since the Second World War, leading experts have said.

Sir Keir Starmer ignored a report in March that Moscow’s state-owned energy giants and their subsidiaries were running filtering camps and funding the militarization of youth.

Two months later, his government backed off from imposing sanctions on imports of Russian oil and jet fuel from third countries such as India or Türkiye.

This sparked outrage in Ukraine and means Britons could use Russian-origin diesel to fuel holiday flights this summer or on UK forecourts.

Research by the Yale Humanitarian Research Laboratory alarmingly suggests that firms ‘directly involved’ in Vladimir Putin’s industrial-scale child deportations are cashing in on British consumers.

The facility, the world’s leading expert in tracking stolen children, has uncovered testimony showing Gazprom and Rosneft’s involvement in the alleged policy of more than 20,000 kidnappings.

This document was published to warn Donald Trump against temporarily purchasing Russian oil due to the energy crisis caused by the Iran war; but both he and Sir Keir ignored the warnings and continued on their way.

Together the firms control more than half of Moscow’s total oil production, meaning jet fuel and diesel will be among those to be delayed by Sir Keir’s U-turn.

Gazprom’s subsidiary, Gazprom Transgaz Ekaterinburg, published photos and videos of boys and girls receiving military training in August 2022.

More than 2,000 children from Donetsk, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia have been taken to at least six camps owned by Gazprom subsidiaries since 2022, investigators found.

Rosneft’s Interregional Trade Union Organization also published sickening photographs of 100 children taken from the same areas in camps in Russian-occupied Crimea in 2023.

Both firms were sanctioned by the UK and the government was about to narrow a loophole that had left the UK buying its products through third countries; but this may not be closed now until 2027.

Incredibly, we can also reveal that Sir Keir’s management has not been in contact with the Yale Laboratory for Humane Research for over a year, despite its leading role in finding the abducted children.

Experts are now calling on Andy Burnham to reverse a ruling that families in the UK unwittingly supported massive war crimes.

Security expert Anthony Glees said: ‘These are not British values.

Putin poses with Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller after being awarded the title of Lavor Hero of the Russian Federation in 2022

‘In all of Starmer’s speeches he blindly followed Trump, saying there wasn’t enough oil and ignoring Putin’s actions on kidnapping children.

‘We in Britain understand what it means to confront dictators, to grit our teeth and do what we have to do.

‘Now we’re aiding and abetting Putin, and that’s frankly disgusting.’

Shadow Foreign Secretary Priti Patel said: ‘Any organization supporting the abduction of Ukrainian children should be sanctioned. Labor must ensure all loopholes are closed.

‘Russia’s vile kidnapping of children is one of many crimes it committed during its illegal occupation of Ukraine and maximum scrutiny is critical.’

Nathaniel Raymond, Executive Director of the Yale Laboratory for Humane Research, said families in the UK were ‘funding’ this crime.

He said: ‘British consumers are giving money to companies actively involved in the movement and indoctrination of Ukrainian children in Russia.

‘They are literally giving money to companies that steal children.’

Pundits and politicians have called on Andy Burnham to fill the gap when he is appointed to replace Sir Keir Starmer as Prime Minister on Monday

Labor claimed that watering down the proposed sanctions was a necessary measure, given the energy crisis caused by the Iran war.

But in a tribute to British charity that saved hundreds of Jewish children from Nazi death camps in the Second World War, Mr Raymond said: ‘What would Sir Nicholas Winton say?

‘I think you could probably solve Britain’s energy crisis by hooking it up to a turbine because it would spin in its grave so fast.’

We can also reveal that the research laboratory, one of the world’s most important conflict monitors guiding major power foreign policy, has not been in contact with the Labor government for over a year.

Sir Keir quietly refused to offer vital financial support to the resort after Donald Trump cut off contact with them last year and has not met or contacted them since.

Fearing his unit would not survive the summer, Mr Raymond said: ‘I am drowning in the rhetoric of anger about what is happening to children as they die of poverty for lack of assets, so that these words can really mean anything.

‘The EU never emerged and neither did the UK.’

A spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said: ‘It is out of the question for us to ease sanctions against Russia.

‘We continue to press against the Kremlin’s approval of more than 3,400 Russia-linked targets, targeting the ships, financial resources and individuals who enable Russia’s aggression.

‘The United Kingdom is committed to facilitating the return and reintegration of children brutally deported by Russia; In May we announced £1.2 million in funding to support Ukraine’s verification and tracing programmes, bringing our total funding to £4 million to help these children return home.’

Rosneft claimed the report was “factually inaccurate”.

Gazprom and Mr Burnham did not respond to requests for comment.