The Russian Interior Ministry said on August 9 that it had issued 2.2 million passports in the occupied Ukrainian regions of Zaporizhia, Kherson, Donetsk and Luhansk since October 2022.
The figure was published by Irina Volk, an official at the Russian Interior Ministry, on her Telegram channel. The information could not be immediately verified.
Russia is systematically forcing residents of the occupied territories to accept Russian passports, the US research group Ukraine Conflict Observatory reported last year.
Ukrainians living in the occupied territories are “facing threats and intimidation, as well as restrictions on humanitarian aid and the provision of basic necessities, as well as possible detention or deportation,” said researchers from Yale University.
In July 2022, a few months after the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree allowing all residents of the occupied Ukrainian territories a simplified procedure for obtaining Russian citizenship.
Putin also signed an executive order in April 2023 that gives residents of the occupied territories of Ukraine until summer 2024 to apply for Russian citizenship. Refusal to obtain a Russian passport entails severe penalties, including loss of property rights, prison sentences and deportation.
Already on July 4, the National Resistance Center of Ukraine stated that the occupation authorities were threatening residents without Russian passports with deportation.
Russia’s forced passporting procedure works in two ways. First, the occupation authorities simplify the process for Ukrainian citizens to obtain Russian passports. Second, Russia imposes de facto Restrictions on those who refuse.
This may include denying medical services, social benefits, a driving license or a work permit, or even open threats of violence or intimidation.
During the massive floods in Kherson Oblast following the rupture of the Kakhovka Dam last year, Russia allowed evacuation only to holders of Russian passports, the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces reported.