How the occupiers force Ukrainians to change their citizenship

Since the beginning of the war, Russia has pursued an aggressive policy towards the Ukrainian population in the occupied territories. First of all, the Russians are doing everything to force Ukrainians to change their citizenship. Now they reached the children.

The Ukrainian Helsinki Union for Human Rights talks about the new draft law of the State Duma concerning “On children of special military operation” and promises them benefits.

January-February 2023 was characterized by the fact that the aggressor country at the legislative level began to actively implement the policy of “denazification” of Ukrainians in the captured territories. This is done primarily through the adoption of laws and regulations that affect people’s realization of their socio-economic rights: the right to work, pension provision, the right to education, etc., – writes the deputy head of the analytical department of the Ukrainian Helsinki Union for Human Rights, Aksana Filipshina.

Russia presents citizens of Ukraine with an unrealistic choice. First by taking away people’s ability to exercise their rights, and then by generously promising many opportunities. But only to those who have Russian citizenship.

As emphasized in the message, on February 17, 2023, Russian deputies of the LDPR party submitted to the State Duma the draft law of the Russian Federation “On children of special military operation”. The authors call this project the law “On children of a special military operation”.

According to this document, the categories of children proposed to be included in the “On Children of a Special Military Operation”, the procedure for determining the territories covered by the law, and the procedure for introducing benefits for children are determined. At the same time, no specifics regarding benefits for children are mentioned.

It is assumed that the amount and types of support will be determined by the government and municipalities, and they will be implemented by children who are citizens of Russia on the basis of a certificate. But it follows from the explanatory note that the implementation of the law will not require additional expenditures from the federal budget! – says Aksana Filipshina.

The territory of distribution of the law is also interesting. The status “On children of a special military operation” is proposed to be granted to “all citizens of the Russian Federation who have not reached the age of eighteen, who live in the territories of Ukraine, the Donetsk People’s Republic and the Luhansk People’s Republic from February 24, 2022, as well as in the territories of Zaporizhzhia Oblast and Kherson Oblast from September 30, 2022, as well as in the territories of municipal units of the Republic of Crimea, Krasnodar Territory, Belgorod, Bryansk, Voronezh, Kursk, Rostov Oblasts, which were subjected to systematic violence and violence.”

Aksana Filipshina believes that this draft law will be adopted because it is very often mentioned in the Russian mass media of various levels. And also calls it political agony.

Why now? The activation of the adoption of “mandatory” laws is not accidental in time, because due to the occupation of Crimea, all traces of legislative changes were prepared and tested. Therefore, the aggressor country could start everything earlier. It seems that this is a matter of political agony against the background of fears of a counteroffensive by the Armed Forces, growing discontent of the population in the occupied territories, falling support for the Russian government among Russians, etc. For the same reason, they probably touched their own territories, in order to at least somehow smooth out the residue from “cotton”, – noted Aksana Filipshina.