Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree that creates the possibility of deporting people living in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine who have not acquired Russian citizenship.
The essence of innovations
According to Putin's decree, residents of Ukraine and individuals holding "passports" of the so-called "DNR" and "LNR" are obliged either to become citizens of Russia or to express their unwillingness to do so. Those who choose the second option, starting July 1, 2024, will be recognized as foreigners and, as a consequence, will be subject to possible deportation.
An additional aspect of the decree relates to the expulsion of individuals who, in the opinion of the authorities, pose a threat to Russia's national security. This includes residents of temporarily occupied territories who advocate "violent changes to the basic constitutional order" of Russia (and therefore in the occupied territories), who finance "terrorist and extremist activities" or who take part in "unauthorized" actions. Such persons will be deported from the country and deprived of the right to enter the territory of the Russian Federation.
According to the decree, deportation can await people who "threaten the national security of the Russian Federation" or "encroach on public order and public safety."
The very fact of threatening Russia's national security is a very broad term that can be recognized on the basis of many reasons, among them:
advocating violent change of the foundations of the constitutional order of the Russian Federation;
financing extremist or terrorist acts;
planning extremist or terrorist acts;
assisting in the commission of extremist or terrorist acts;
encroachments on public order, including participation in unauthorized rallies;
"other support" of extremist or terrorist activities.
In Russia, the legal definition of what actions are considered extremist, for example, is contained in Article 1 of Federal Law No. 114-FZ "On Countering Extremist Activity", which includes 13 different paragraphs. The decision to be recognized as an extremist is taken by a court at the request of a law enforcement agency. For example, Alexei Navalny, his organization, the Anti-Corruption Foundation, the Foundation for the Protection of Civil Rights, and the politician's headquarters in Russian regions were once recognized as extremists.
On March 21, 2022, Russia recognized the activities of Meta and its social networks Facebook and Instagram as extremist.
This decision was prompted by the fact that Facebook and Instagram, owned by Meta, temporarily allowed users from certain countries to call for violence against the Russian military, as well as express death wishes for the presidents of Russia and Belarus. Although the decision was made on March 11, 10 days later a court hearing and ruling had already been held.
This speed of court proceedings indicates that the Russian authorities have built a system where being recognized as an extremist is more of a form of punishment for dissent. Under President Putin's current decree, any manifestation of pro-Ukrainian sentiment and dissatisfaction with the Russian occupation can be recognized as extremism. The same actions can be considered a threat to Russia's constitutional order.
For example, if a resident of the occupied territories of Ukraine speaks out against the occupation in one way or another, this could be considered advocating a violent change in the foundations of the constitutional order of the Russian Federation, since the illegal annexation of Ukrainian territories was enshrined in the amendments to the Russian constitution. In view of the ongoing hostilities, any such opinion could be considered violent. Although, at the same time, even in their absence, there is nothing preventing Russian investigators from classifying it as extremism.
Even a manifestation of national or ethnic identity can qualify as support for extremist activity. For example, on April 18, 2016, the public association "Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People" was included in the list of public and religious associations whose activities have been suspended in connection with their extremist activities. Mejlis of the Crimean Tatars is the executive body of the Kurultai of the Crimean Tatar people, which carries out representation of the Crimean Tatars as the indigenous people of Ukraine, which was formed on the territory of the Crimean peninsula.
As a punishment may be used not only directly deportation, but also other measures, including:
administrative expulsion - possible punishment in Russia by a court decision for an administrative offense (participation in a rally can be considered as such);
readmission - the state's consent to accept back to its territory its citizens who are subject to deportation from another state under mutual agreements (upd: Ukraine denounced its readmission agreement with the Russian Federation in August 2023);
revocation of a residence permit;
declaration of undesirability of stay - requirement to voluntarily leave the territory;
deprivation of refugee status;
prohibition to enter Russia.
Nevertheless, acceptance of Russian citizenship does not serve as a guarantee for residents of the occupied territories. Deportation is possible even in this case, but through a longer procedure. One day after signing the decree on deportation, Putin signed another law allowing for the deprivation of citizenship. The relevant amendments were adopted as part of the second reading of the draft law on citizenship.
These amendments stipulate that the issue of termination of Russian citizenship not obtained by birthright because of "actions threatening national security" will be considered and adopted by the federal executive body in the sphere of internal affairs or its regional subdivisions.
The media characterized this law as an opportunity to "deprive citizenship for fakes," referring to Federal Law No. 32-FZ of March 4, 2022, "On Amendments to the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation and Articles 31 and 151 of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation," which establishes criminal liability for allegedly spreading knowingly false information about the use of the Russian Armed Forces, as well as for public actions aimed at discrediting the Russian army. Under discrediting can be perceived almost any criticism of the army, as well as voicing the real losses of Russian troops in Ukraine. Such a possibility is also provided for in these amendments to the legislation.
Thus, even after taking Russian citizenship, residents of the occupied territories can easily lose it for criticizing Russia, its leadership and the Russian army even in social networks. And since these actions may be qualified by law enforcement agencies as threatening national security, deportation may well follow.
Reasons
These actions of the Russian regime are aimed at accelerating the pace of deportation of the Ukrainian population in the occupied territories of Ukraine. In her Telegram channel, Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar expressed her opinion on April 26 about the attempts of the Russian invaders to influence the ethnic composition of the population in the occupied regions of Ukraine. According to her statement, Russia is moving people of various nationalities from its remote regions, mainly among low-income segments of the population, in order to change the ethnic dynamics. These actions are most actively carried out on the territory of the Luhansk region.
Kirill Budanov, the head of Defense intelligence, said as early as 2022 that Russia was removing Ukrainians from the territories they temporarily occupied to replace the indigenous population with Russian ones, to change the socio-demographic picture in the region, to resettle people and keep them in slave-like conditions as a labor force.
"The Soviet Union did this in all territories, and Russia continues this shameful practice. Why is this being done? The first is to replace the indigenous population with the Russian population in order to change the socio-demographic picture in this region. Secondly, it is resettlement. If you look at where they are offered to go, they are exclusively depressive regions, where the main contingent is poorly educated, unprofessional people. Compared to them, the population of Mariupol are geniuses and Nobel laureates. In this way they get qualified and very low-paid - people will be in slave conditions - labor force. Here is a purely pragmatic approach," Budanov said.
In addition, according to Russian law, there are other taxation systems for foreigners. For example, the income tax for Russians is 13%, while for foreigners it is 30%. Similar rates are used when selling real estate.
This knowingly creates conditions for the expulsion of Ukrainians from the occupied territories, as they are in unfavorable conditions. It will be more difficult for them to find work, they are more limited in income than Russian citizens. In such a situation - the adoption of Russian citizenship becomes a condition for further residence in the illegally annexed territories of Ukraine.
Legal responsibility
The current actions of the Russian regime, and directly of Russian President Vladimir Putin, constitute a war crime.
The Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War explicitly prohibits any deportation of people from occupied territory. Thus, Article 49 provides that:
Individual or mass forcible transfers, as well as deportations of protected persons from occupied territory to the territory of the Occupying Power or to that of any other country, occupied or not, are prohibited, regardless of their motive.
From the point of view of international law - all residents of the occupied territories of Ukraine are protected persons for Russia. These are civilians who have fallen into the power of the opposing party due to a military conflict or occupation of the territory, their status is defined by the Geneva Convention.
In this case, their expulsion both to the territory of Russia and any other state is considered a violation of the Geneva Convention.
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