The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has recorded a massive illegal issuance of passports of the Russian Federation in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine in Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
“The so-called authorities of the self-proclaimed republics organized this process to ensure the participation of Ukrainians in the September elections to the Russian State Duma. The organizers violate international law and deprive ‘new’ citizens of social guarantees,” the SBU press service reported.
According to the Ukrainian special services, forced Russian citizenship has been proceeding at an accelerated pace since June 2021 on direct instructions from the Russian Federation.
At the same time, the Russian passports issued to the residents of occupied parts of eastern Ukraine contain the codes of a non-existent unit of the Migration Service of Rostov Region. In addition, registration is not indicated in the document. Thus, the issued documents do not give the right to social and pension payments from Russia and do not make their owners full citizens of the Russian Federation.
The SBU officers found that the organizers plan to ensure a high turnout of Donbas residents in the elections using two mechanisms: with the assistance of the pro-government United Russia party, they organize the departure of people to vote in the border cities of Rostov region of the Russian Federation, and also provide the possibility of illegal “electronic voting” including in the occupied territories of Ukraine.
Residents of the temporarily occupied territories are obliged to register their e-mails with their personal data in order to take part in the online voting.
Most of the people, who received passports, according to the curators, should vote for United Russia. The organizers have developed a set of measures to campaign for the pro-government party: numerous “registration points” in the United Russia have been opened in Moscow-controlled parts of eastern Ukraine, the organizers of the “elections” received so-called gag orders with campaigning technologies for the party of the Russian authorities, and there are also “information centers” for citizens who are supervised by the leadership of the United Russia.
The SBU continues to record the illegal actions of the occupation authorities in Donbas to issue passports during preparations for the elections to the State Duma of the Russian Federation. All illegal actions are documented within the framework of open criminal proceedings. The received materials will be transferred to the relevant international authorities.
The SBU recalled that in 2020, at a meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council, the EU delegation stated that the simplified procedure for granting Russian citizenship to a significant number of residents of Donetsk and Luhansk regions is an infringement on the sovereignty of Ukraine and is contrary to the spirit and goals of the Minsk agreements. The European Union does not recognize such passports and urged other OSCE participants not to recognize these documents.
