Page 11 - UKRRptJun21

Now according to reports the Kremlin has become more aggressive with a policy of expanding the number of its citizens in the region by limiting jobs as things like teachers and doctors to those with Russian citizenship.
"I drew attention to the fact that Russia continues, and recently has even accelerated, its policy of mass issuance of passports to Ukrainian citizens in the territories of Ukraine uncontrolled by the government under a simplified procedure... In particular, almost 600,000 Ukrainian citizens – local government officials, teachers, doctors in the occupied territories – received passports in Donetsk and Luhansk regions. A principle is observed there: if you do not receive a passport, you do not work," Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights Liudmyla Denisova posted on Telegram following a meeting with Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Kingdom of Denmark to Ukraine Ole Egberg Mikkelsen, as cited by Ukrinform.
The move is worrying as the Russian constitution obliges the Kremlin to “protect its citizens” wherever they are in the case of aggression. Issuing passports to residents of other countries has already been used as a pretext to annex the Georgian regions of Abkhasia and South Ossetiya, which held “referendums” and broke off from Georgia and become “independent.”
The acceleration of the passport programme makes it almost impossible for the Donbas to return to Ukraine, although that doesn't mean they will be subsumed into the Russian federation. More likely is the regions will become in some sense autonomous and may set up their own parliaments, but remain part of a federated Ukraine.
In this scenario the Kremlin would hope to retain a large degree of influence over the regions so that in the event Ukraine tries to join Nato it would need to hold a referendum and win support from all the regions of Ukraine, in effect handing the Kremlin the ability to veto any Nato bid.
Increasing the number of citizens also raises the stakes militarily as any attempt to retake the breakaway regions by force would include attacks on “Russian citizens” and could trigger a military response from Moscow. The upshot of having around a million citizens in the regions will freeze the conflict in the meantime which also prevents Ukraine from joining Nato as its charter precludes membership applications by countries with an active border dispute.
"Another problem I point out during each meeting is the release of our compatriots. These are Ukrainian citizens who are being persecuted by the Russian Federation for political reasons, civilian hostages and prisoners of war who are being illegally detained in the temporarily occupied territories of Donetsk and Luhansk regions. I called on the Ambassador to raise the issue of their release at the international level,” the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner added.
Pursuant to the decree signed by president of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin in 2019, residents of certain areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions and Ukrainian citizens, who lived in Crimea in March 2014, can apply for expedited Russian citizenship.
The European Union expressed deep concern about Russia's continued issuance of passports to residents of the regions, which is contrary to the Minsk Agreements and is a clear violation of Ukraine's sovereignty.
11 UKRAINE Country Report XXXX 2018 www.intellinews.com