Newly elected Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy gave a stinging, sarcastic reply on Facebook late on April 27 to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s proposal to issue Russian passports to citizens of Ukraine in occupied Donbas and, potentially, to all Ukrainians.
“First of all, I would advise the Russian authorities against attempting to seduce Ukrainian citizens with Russian passports. Of course, there may be people who are still under the influence of propaganda or hope to earn more money to escape criminal responsibility,” Zelenskiy wrote.
“But what sets Ukraine apart is that here we have free speech, media and Internet. And that is why we know what Russian passport really means – the right to be arrested for a peaceful protest , the right to have no free and fair elections, the right to forget that inalienable human rights and freedoms even exist,” he said.
“So, do not think that many Ukrainians would like to become ‘the new oil’ that Russian government is trying to turn its people into,” Zelenskiy said.
Zelenskiy also proposed offering citizenship to Russians fleeing the Putin regime.
“We will provide Ukrainian citizenship to representatives of all nations who suffer from authoritarian and corrupt regimes. First of all, that is Russians, who today likely suffer more than everyone else,” he wrote.
On April 24, Putin signed a decree allowing people who live in the Russian-occupied territory of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts to gain Russian passports through a simplified procedure. Three days later, on April 27, Putin said that the Russian government was considering applying simplified procedures to all Ukrainians applicants for Russian citizenship.
The decree would allow more than 3 million Ukrainians to apply for Russian passports bypassing number of criteria for gaining Russian citizenship.
According to Olena Zerkal, deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine for the European Integration, the adoption of such a decree grossly violates the principle of not worsening the conflict.
“The main risk is a deterioration of the attitude of the occupation authorities towards the citizens of Ukraine who refuse to accept citizenship of the Russian Federation,” wrote Zerkal on Facebook on April 25.
“The practice of providing citizenship in occupied territories was actively used in Europe by the Nazis. The Nazis imposed German citizenship to the people of the occupied territories, they forcibly conscripted people into the army and forced citizens to work,” she added.
In his response, Zelenskiy added that the language of threats, military and economic pressure is not acceptable to Ukrainians while searching for a way to end the war between the two countries.
“I reiterate that I am ready for negotiations. I hope that Russia will demonstrate readiness for de-escalation at a meeting in the Normandy format,” Zelenskiy wrote.
As a confirmation of such readiness should be the mutual exchange of Ukrainian citizens in the format of “all at all” without exceptions, he wrote, referring to the prisoners taken by both sides in the war.
“We are ready to discuss new conditions for the coexistence of Ukraine and Russia. The true normalization (of relationships) will only take place after a complete de-occupation. Both Donbas and Crimea. Ukraine is not giving up!” Zelenskiy added.
