"Voluntary forced citizenship". Why did Russia simplify the procedure for citizens of Ukraine?

Why does the Russian authorities need this? How is this regulated by international law and is it possible for residents of the occupied territories of Ukraine to renounce Russian citizenship? The presenter of Radio Krym.Realii Sergej Mokrushin talked about this with the experts of the "Regional Center for Human Rights" Nikita Petrovac and Ekaterina Rashevska.

Putin's decree, which refers to Ukrainians who lived in Crimea before the Russian annexation, begins literally with the words "In order to protect the rights and freedoms of the person and the citizen, guided by the generally recognized principles and norms of international law..."

In fact, this regulation, like others on the simplified procedure for obtaining Russian citizenship, has nothing to do with international law, assures the lawyer of the "Regional Center for Human Rights" Nikita Petrovec.

"First, the decree aims to approve the policy of annexation of Ukrainian territories to show that it is supposedly the territory of the Russian Federation. This international crime, like the crime of international aggression, is an ego element. Another reason is the violation of international humanitarian law, according to which it is forbidden to consider the temporarily occupied territory as the territory of another state, in this case the territory of the Russian Federation. And this decree is aimed at exactly that," explained Nikita Petrovec on Radio Krim.Realii.

The difference between the new regulation and the others is that the previously simplified procedure for obtaining Russian citizenship applied to residents of the occupied territories, and now, in fact, it applies to all citizens of Ukraine who happened to be on the territory of the Russian Federation.

 

“One of the reasons is that they don't actually recognize that Ukraine has a right to exist, but they show that there is one such big Russian Federation and that all citizens of Ukraine must eventually become citizens of the Russian Federation. Therefore, they created a simplified procedure. It doesn't matter to them: from the Lugansk region, from Donetsk, if the person is from Ukraine "and without question, we recognize everyone, just apply", believes Nikita Petrovec.

Another reason for passing the decree is population renewal, suggests Nikita Petrovets. Demographic crisis is present in Russia. Hundreds of thousands of people left the country after the announcement of the partial mobilization, and to that should be added the losses on the front. A Russian passport also means a military obligation for men, notes Petrovec.

"The only question is whether the Russian Federation will initiate this process and issue an invitation? ... I do not rule out that this may be the reason for these people to mobilize and then say: "Did you get a Russian passport? Now is the time to fight against Ukraine, for our new state - the Russian Federation," says Nikita Petrovec.

At the same time, the lawyer notes, Ukrainian citizens who found themselves in Russia are forced to take citizenship. Without a Russian passport, these people are condemned to a very difficult life.

"They cannot get medical services, and they have children, they can only send them to school with a Russian passport," Petrovec cites examples.

A special clause of the decree stipulates that orphans and children left without parental care, incompetent persons who are citizens of Ukraine or stateless persons permanently residing in the territory of Ukraine, who are located in the territories controlled by Russia, acquire Russian citizenship. Ekaterina Rashevskaja, a lawyer at the Regional Center for Human Rights, believes that this represents additional guilt on the part of the Russian authorities.

"This decree should be included in the file as something that directly indicates that not only Putin and Lavov-Belova will not stop. It is [necessary] to continue the investigation and issue new warrants, but also to additionally reclassify the crimes that already exist. The intention has not changed, and even more, it deepens, the identity has been eradicated, yes, maybe these are not war crimes, but genocide... It seems to me that in Ukraine, Russia is not only led by armed forces, but by so-called Demographic war, kidnapping Ukrainian citizens, turning them into Russians," said Ekaterina Rashevskaya.

This regulation will complicate the search and return of Ukrainian children taken to Russia, notes Rashevskaya. According to human rights activists, the names of 19,546 Ukrainian children who ended up in Russia appear on the "Children of War" platform. About 4,000 of them are orphans, children deprived of parental care.  

 

"Russia adopted (the children) and does not recognize them as citizens of Ukraine, considers them Russian children and does whatever it wants with them. He gives them to families for guardianship, for adoption, changes their personal data. This category of children for return is the most difficult," said Ekaterina Rashevskaja.

Children are given Ukrainian names with Russian pronunciation. Orphans and children deprived of care, who were handed over to Russian families, change their address - this makes the search even more difficult, says the lawyer.

"When a child is deported to Kursk, he is no longer an orphan from Mariupol, Donetsk, Shakhtarsk, but a child from Kursk. Then try to find that child, especially if it is a small baby whose appearance is constantly changing," said Ekaterina Rashevskaya.

Russian authorities do not give children to legal guardians from Ukraine until they complete all Russian documents.

"The main condition of the Russian legislation is that the guardian, the adoptive parent must be a citizen of the Russian Federation. Ukraine is recognized as an enemy state, so such citizens definitely cannot be adoptive parents. This is a serious obstacle. Mediator countries must intervene," Rashevskaja said.

Ukrainian boys aged 16 to 17 must register for military service. After 18 years, they can be drafted into the Russian army, says Ekaterina Rashevskaja.

"They cannot leave the territory of the Russian Federation without fulfilling this obligation. They also cannot renounce their Russian citizenship until they have served in the Russian military. Therefore, Russian citizenship is a way to speed up and simplify the eradication of Ukrainian identity in such children," said Rashevskaya.