The Crimean Human Rights Group organization has stated that the Russian Federation violates the rights of Ukrainians who refused to obtain Russian passports in the occupied Crimea, in particular by expelling them as migrants who violated the terms of their stay on the peninsula.
“The Russian Federation deprives of the rights those Ukrainian citizens who refused or could not obtain a Russian passport in the occupied territory. This is primarily because of the fact that they do not have the opportunity to get a job, they cannot get normal medical care, after all, they are simply expelled from the territory of Crimea, using the norms of the administrative code of the Russian Federation,” analyst of Crimean Human Rights Group Oleksandr Sedov said.
He noted that the occupation authorities of Crimea consider such citizens as external migrants, despite the fact that these people had being living on the peninsula for a long time before the occupation and have stable social ties there.
According to the human rights activist, in the period from the beginning of occupation in 2014 to February 2018 some 6,970 decisions were passed on punishment in respect of persons who allegedly exceeded the term of their stay in Crimea. According to Sedov, the punishment may be a fine, deportation or a verbal warning.
