US-backed research published on Wednesday said Ukrainians residing in Russian-occupied territory are being pushed to choose Russian citizenship or suffer harsh reprisal, including deportation or arrest.
Researchers from Yale University claim that citizens of the Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhya areas are the targets of a systematic campaign by Moscow to strip them of their Ukrainian identity. “This effort is part of Moscow’s strategy to exert its dominance over Ukrainians”, the researchers claimed.
According to the research, a series of orders passed by Russian President Vladimir Putin compel Ukrainians to obtain Russian passports, which violates international humanitarian law.
The Kremlin has persistently refuted charges of war crimes committed by personnel participating in a special military operation designed to de-Nazify Ukraine and safeguard Russia.
“Ukrainians in occupied territory who do not seek Russian citizenship are subjected to threats, intimidation, restrictions on humanitarian aid and basic necessities, and possible detention or deportation – all designed to force them to become Russian citizens”, the report added.
“What is concerning here is that it represents, basically, a violation of the Hague and Geneva Conventions”, said Executive Director Nathaniel Raymond of the Yale School of Public Health’s Humanitarian Research Lab.
“It is very widespread and ongoing”, Raymond continued.
“Ukrainians in Russian-controlled areas have no alternative but to accept a Russian passport if they want to survive, or they risk incarceration and, as the team has demonstrated, deportation into Russia”, Raymond added.
President Putin, who has been indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for the war crime of deporting Ukrainian children and occupation authorities, bears responsibility, he stated.
The Kremlin has stated that the ICC’s decision to issue an arrest warrant for Putin is evidence of clear hostility towards Russia and Putin personally.
The report was published as part of the Conflict Observatory programme, which was funded by the US State Department and carried out by research partner the Yale School of Public Health’s Humanitarian Research Lab.
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