9mo ago

Russia forces Ukrainians in occupied territories to take its passports – and fight in its army

apnews.com Russia forces Ukrainians in occupied territories to take its passports – and fight in its army

Russia has successfully imposed its passports on nearly the entire population of occupied Ukraine by making it impossible to survive without them.

He and his parents were among the last in their village to take a Russian passport, but the pressure was becoming unbearable.

By his third beating at the hands of the Russian soldiers occupying Ukraine’s Kherson region, Vyacheslav Ryabkov caved. The soldiers broke two of his ribs, but his face was not bruised for his unsmiling passport photo, taken in September 2023.

It wasn’t enough.

In December, they caught the welder on his way home from work. Then one slammed his rifle butt down on Ryabkov’s face, smashing the bridge of his nose.

“Why don’t you fight for us? You already have a Russian passport,” they demanded. The beating continued as the 42-year-old fell unconscious.

“Let’s finish this off,” one soldier said. A friend ran for Ryabkov’s mother.

Russia has successfully imposed its passports on nearly the entire population of occupied Ukraine by making it impossible to survive without them, coercing hundreds of thousands of people into citizenship ahead of elections Vladimir Putin has made certain he will win, an Associated Press investigation has found. But accepting a passport means that men living in occupied territory can be drafted to fight against the same Ukrainian army that is trying to free them.

64 comments

This is actually what the Nazis did during WW2. Russia is a fascist dictatorship.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkssturm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wehrmacht_foreign_volunteers_and_conscripts
- Its also what Ukraine is doing right now, so not sure you what your point is.
  
  Exactly which bit of a foreign country is Ukraine occupying and forcing its citizens to fight for them?
  
  Fuck off fascist
  
  Is there any evidence to support this claim?
  
  This has to be a joke
  my other account: https://hexbear.net/u/mathemachristian
  Oh god he's serious
  
  Fascist scum
  
  More trash from Hexbear, what a surprise.
  
  Stop. Get some help.
  
  It's* also

The fact that 40% of the US supports this guy is absolutely fucking bonkers.
- They would plead the fifth if they could count that high.
- I'd love some sauce on that Ü
  
  Sauce.
  “Support” might be a strong word, but they don’t view Putin as an enemy.
  https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2023/05/10/americans-hold-positive-feelings-toward-nato-and-ukraine-see-russia-as-an-enemy/

I assume that an alternative headline would be “War crime aficionado, Vladimir Putin, to shit on Geneva Conventions again by using POWs as a meat shield.”

Huh, it's almost like these regions didn't want to be independent from Ukraine and are being occupied and controlled by Russia as effective colonies. It seems Putin was never able to move out of an imperialist mindset, but I doubt that's a surprise to anyone except Russia apologetics.

this is so fucked up

You sign up, you get a rifle, you shoot a barrack full of ruzzkie. Seems like the only way.

Of course, that's why they had to kidnap all these thousands of children.

a army your own enemy, not gonna backfire at all
- They dont hand the Ukrainian conscripts any real functioning weapons, if at all. They are used as meat shields and cannon fodder to absorb the limited ammunition Ukraine has.

thousands of people into citizenship ahead of elections Vladimir Putin has made certain he will win
With what amount of law exists there, these regions are a holy grail for I doubt anyone even knows how much people are alive and still there. They may use aproximations circa 2013 to get an easy way to add votes. They probably didn't count locals with a passport in a short period of time after Sept. 2023 if at all.
It's weird though that there's some legalism making them actually get the passport and sign for service themselves. I thought it could be automated. Probably a way to explain their mission here? Look, they take these papers, so we have big numbers to back up the cause and our governor looks pretty on meetings! I'm not sure why's that so.

That can't weigh well on Ukrainian forces fighting in occupied territories.

This is the best summary I could come up with:
Russia has successfully imposed its passports on nearly the entire population of occupied Ukraine by making it impossible to survive without them, coercing hundreds of thousands of people into citizenship ahead of elections Vladimir Putin has made certain he will win, an Associated Press investigation has found.
Every passport and birth certificate issued makes it harder for Ukraine to reclaim its lost land and children, and each new citizen allows Russia to claim a right – however falsely – to defend its own people against a hostile neighbor.
AP spoke about the system to impose Russian citizenship in occupied territories to more than a dozen people from the regions, along with the activists helping them to escape and government officials trying to cope with what has become a bureaucratic and psychological nightmare for many.
If a passport was issued after that time – it was most certainly forced,” said Oleksandr Rozum, a lawyer who left the occupied city of Berdyansk and now handles the bureaucratic gray zone for Ukrainians under occupation who ask for his help, including property records, birth and death certificates and divorces.
The international organization Physicians for Human Rights documented at least 15 cases of people being denied vital medical care in occupied territories between February 2023 and August 2023 because they lacked a Russian passport.
Dina Urich, who arranges the escapes from occupied territory with the aid group Helping to Leave, said about 400 requests come in each month, but they only have the money and staff for 40 evacuations.
The original article contains 2,263 words, the summary contains 254 words. Saved 89%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

The comments here are all like

64 comments