Russia now sees four areas in Ukraine, in addition to Crimea, as its own territories: Luhansk and Donetsk are separatist areas supported by Russia since 2014; At the start of the war of aggression in 2022, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson were annexed, the latter has now been partially recaptured by Ukraine.
A team of journalists from several European public media outlets, under the umbrella of the EBU’s investigative journalism network, collected reports on the ground for months, obtaining first-hand descriptions of life under occupation. In addition, experts were interviewed and official communications from the Russian authorities were analyzed. Questions to Russian officials remained unanswered.
Systematic repression
According to the United Nations and Russia, up to 11 million people could live under Russian occupation in Ukraine, although it is not known how many of them have already left the country. The predominantly Ukrainian population lives almost completely isolated from the outside world. Russian authorities control access to international observers and reputable news organizations.
The investigation paints a picture of systematic repression by Russia: “If we break or ignore the rules, it may be difficult to survive,” the report says. And following the rules also means accepting Russian passports.
Portal/Alexander Ermochenko Ukrainians applying for passports in Kherson during occupation period
Conscription for men
Forced Russian citizenship has consequences, especially for men. They are then forced to serve in the Russian military. According to a report by the Russian Ministry of Defense, of the 300,000 men mobilized for the “special military operation” in Ukraine in the fall of 2022, 80,000 came from the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. It was also reported in the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions that recruiting offices began calling up men of military age.
A law signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin in April stipulates that residents who have not acquired citizenship by July 2024 will be considered “foreigners or stateless persons” and may be deported. Those affected report that they were threatened with having to leave the country without their children and that their children would be sent to orphanages.
There is a threat of high treason charges in Ukraine
On the other hand, Ukraine also reacted with counterpressure: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy strengthened laws at the start of the war to punish activities considered high treason or collaboration with the enemy. For those who remain loyal to Ukraine in the occupied territories, this means an almost impossible choice between two evils: opposing the Russian occupiers or risking being accused of collaboration.
Ukraine: Russification is progressing
Russia occupied large parts of Ukraine; According to the UN, almost eleven million people live under Russian occupation. In fraudulent votes, Moscow annexed the Ukrainian regions of Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson. People are forced to accept Russian passports and Ukrainian culture is banned.
This is one of the reasons why the Ukrainian law has caused concern among international organizations such as the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights – and there is also criticism in Ukraine itself. According to the Ukrainian non-governmental organization Chesno, the Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office investigated almost 10,000 cases of treason and collaboration between January 2022 and September 2023 – some in the absence of the accused.
Forced naturalization of the elderly
The occupiers, in turn, began their “Russification” of weaker groups: after instructions to mainly target “citizens with reduced mobility”, Russian officers in military uniforms can be seen on official social media channels, visiting elderly people in nursing homes of elderly people and during home visits Requesting and taking fingerprints helps. After the destruction of the Kakhovka dam in June, the occupation authorities only provided humanitarian aid if he accepted Russian citizenship.
Portal/Murad Sezer An advertising poster promotes “security” through a Russian passport
Insulin only with a Russian passport
According to refugee statements, only those who are loyal to Russia receive medical aid and medicines such as insulin. Even death becomes difficult for the residents. “It is impossible to bury a person without permission from the occupation authorities,” said Alexander Samoilenko, head of the Kherson regional council in Ukrainian-controlled territories. “The funeral will be held with a Russian passport or refused under some pretext.”
Leonid Remyga, chief physician at Kherson City Hospital, says that during the period of Russian occupation, from March to November 2022, parents were forced To their newborns as Russians. According to Remyga, the threat was to refuse diapers and baby food – if that didn’t help, at gunpoint.
more on the subject
Reports of atrocities in “Europe’s biggest prison”
Torture and murder
The doctor refused to cooperate. He was arrested in September 2022 and taken to a pre-trial detention center, where he said he was a victim of torture and also provided medical assistance to other tortured prisoners. The EBU investigation is not the only one that speaks of systematic persecution, arbitrary detentions, torture and even murders.
A few months ago, Russian online media outlet in exile The Insider reported on such practices in the occupied city of Melitopol. A UN report from late October stated that Russian authorities were “using widespread and systematic torture” in Ukraine.
Indoctrination and historical revisionism in schools
But the occupiers don’t just use violence: indoctrination begins with school-age children. The new school year began in September with a new history book for students. Offers a new authoritative account of World War II, the Soviet era, and Moscow’s annexation of Crimea and eastern regions of Ukraine.
IMAGO/SNA/Alexandr Suhov Ukrainian monuments are being demolished, Russian monuments with Soviet symbols – here in Mariupol – are being erected
The “special military operation” in Ukraine is described by Putin in the book as “a matter of life and death, a question of our historical future as a people.” For Amnesty International, this is a “blatant attempt to illegally indoctrinate schoolchildren”.
For young people aged 16 and over, “basic military training” was integrated into the curricula. For parents who want to protect their children from Russian propaganda, the only option is secret online classes, but this poses a great risk. If a corresponding app is found on a cell phone, there is a risk of arrest and imprisonment, according to the EBU report.
Mariupol as a showcase project
Russia is conducting a different kind of propaganda in Mariupol. Fighting raged for months into the spring of 2022, before the last Ukrainians had to admit defeat at the Azov steelworks. Russia is now trying to rebuild the city at lightning speed. Parades are held and Russian influencers are brought to the city to send colorful images home.
AP/Alexei Alexandrov propaganda show in Mariupol
The highest priority is the reconstruction of the Mariupol Theater. It was the scene of one of the deadliest single Russian attacks of the war, in which hundreds of people died, buried under the rubble of a building used as a shelter with the word “children” written in large Russian letters.
TOPS
Mariupol: Russia’s propaganda hits war victims hard
A new troupe of actors from St. Petersburg will now perform at the house. For the city’s displaced residents, Russian ambitions are hard to bear, topos.ORF.at also recently reported.
War crimes and genocide?
American historian and Russian expert Timothy Snyder talks about war crimes – and genocide. “On a legal level, the effort to turn Ukrainians into Russians is genocide,” says Snyder: “Denying that another group of people has their own identity or even exists, and then using political power to make them members of one.” for another group it is clearly genocide. So we can call it Russification, but legally it is genocide.”
Legal experts interviewed by the EBU research team are more cautious: “The legal definition is quite narrow,” says William Schabas, professor of international and humanitarian law at Middlesex University in London.