Russia Forces Deported Ukrainians To Be Russian Citizens, Issues Them Passports

Russian forces have started issuing passports to Ukrainian civilians who they forcibly deported to various regions in Russia

In a Facebook post, Lyudmyla Denisova, the Ombudsman for Human Rights in Ukraine, accused Russia of “forced passportization” of Ukrainian citizens who were taken to different regions of Russia amid the war. The citizens included women, persons with disabilities and pensioners.

“Almost 14 thousand applications for admission to Russian citizenship were received from them and 12 thousand passports were issued,” Denisova wrote. “Such actions of the Russian occupant are aimed at continuing the forced integration of our state's population into the Russian political, economic and humanitarian space.”

In the post, Denisova also claimed that “forced passportization” directly violated the Geneva Convention on the Protection of Civil Population in Time of War. She appealed to the UN Commission of the Investigation of Human Rights to take action against the human rights violations committed by Russia.

Russia has been issuing passports to Ukrainian citizens even before the war began on Feb. 24. As of May 2021, it was estimated that the Kremlin distributed at least 530,000 passports to Ukrainians living in the Russian-occupied region of Donbas.

The Russian government sought to double the number by late 2021 to around one million Russian passport holders. The act of naturalizing Ukrainians is part of the hybrid war that Russia has been waging against Ukraine, according to the Warsaw Institute.

It is presently unclear how many Ukrainian citizens were forcibly deported to Russia. However, Mariupol Mayor Vadym Boychenko last Friday said he had “verified” that roughly 31,000 residents were sent to Russian “filtration camps” located in Novoazovsk, a southern port city just nine miles from the Russian border. The camp is situated in the Donetsk People’s Republic, a breakaway region on Ukraine’s eastern front, that Russia recognizes as an independent state.

"Filtration is very strict - fingerprints are taken, as well as biometrics. They force people to sign various documents," Mayor Boychenko said in a Telegram post, as translated by Ukrainian news agency Ukrinform.

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield last week said she saw “credible reports” of Ukrainian residents being sent to filtration camps where they are being stripped of their passports and documents.