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Russia is issuing passports to Ukrainian citizens in occupied territories in an attempt to "tighten the noose around the necks" of Ukrainians, said Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba.
The Kremlin on Monday announced that Russian authorities would allow all Ukrainians to participate in a fast-track procedure to obtain Russian citizenship—expanding the program that previously applied to citizens in the separatist regions of Donetsk and Luhansk.
The new policy has been seen as Russia's latest attempt to establish influence over Ukraine as the war between the two eastern European nations, which was ordered by Russian President Vladimir Putin in late February, continues to rage on.
"This decree is worthless and only shows Putin's aggressive appetites. I am convinced that the Armed Forces of Ukraine will put an end to them with the proper support of their partners," Kuleba said on Monday.
The foreign ministry, in a lengthy translated statement, described the policy as "another encroachment on the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, incompatible with the norms and principles of international law."
"Passporting of Ukrainian citizens is legally null and void and will have no legal consequences for Ukraine," the ministry said in its statement. "Instead, Russia uses a simplified procedure for issuing passports to tighten the noose around the necks of the residents of the temporarily occupied territories of our country, forcing them to participate in the criminal activities of the occupation administrations and the Russian invading army."
The ministry also added that the new passport policy confirms that the Kremlin wants to take Ukrainian land and oversee the "forced assimilation" of the country.
Russia, meanwhile, has maintained the invasion was meant to combat Nazis within the Ukrainian government—even though Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is Jewish—and to "liberate" the Donbas region, though these justifications have been subject to scrutiny from analysts.
About 18 percent of people living in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, which make up Donbas, have received Russian passports since 2019, according to the Associated Press. Amid the war, Russia also expanded the policy to residents of the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions in May.
Newsweek reached out to the Russian defense ministry for comment.
Russia-Ukraine War Continues
The move comes as the two nations continue to fight for control of Ukrainian territory, with the death toll continuing to rise each day. Russia, in recent days, launched more attacks against Ukraine, including in the country's second-largest city, Kharkiv, where Russian shelling killed three people and left 31 others injured on Monday, according to Reuters.
Meanwhile over the weekend, Russian rockets struck an apartment bock in Chasiv Yar, a city in Eastern Ukraine. At least 30 people were killed in the attack, Reuters reported.
About the writer
Andrew Stanton is a Newsweek weekend reporter based in Maine. His role is reporting on U.S. politics and social issues. ... Read more