Ukrainians 'refused healthcare and other help until they apply to be a Russian'
The Kremlin has been forcing Ukrainians in occupied territories to become Russia or else they will be denied healthcare and free movement, new evidence has revealed.
An investigation has found pressures being forced on Ukrainians to assimilate with the enemy as Putin's brutal campaign shows no signs of stopping. One woman, Larysa, told the EBU's Investigative Journalism Network that one of her friends was not provided with insulin for her diabetes until she applied for a Russian passport. The BBC reported the findings and said another of Larysa's friends had to become a Russian citizen to have her broken arm treated.
A pop-up passport office in occupied Ukraine (Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)This is not the first time this has happened, adding more weight to the allegations. Yale University researchers found in August residents of the Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions were being targeted by a systematic effort to strip them of Ukrainian identity. A report said that Ukrainians who do not seek Russian citizenship "are subjected to threats, intimidation, restrictions on humanitarian aid and basic necessities, and possible detention or deportation, all designed to force them to become Russian citizens."
Russia’s actions were "classic war crimes in the sense that they are restricting or limiting through this process people’s ability to access critical services and resources that Russia is required to allow all people to access, such as healthcare, and humanitarian systems", Nathaniel Raymond, the executive director of Yale School of Public Health, told CNN.
Larysa also said pensions and food are not provided without Russian passports, while medical services are "out of the question." She explains how there are lots of checkpoints on the road and they will not let you through without a Russian passport. She continues: "So people have to obtain these papers. Because if someone, say, has cows in one village and sells milk in another, it is impossible to move between villages." Another woman, Lyudmyla (not her real name), from the occupied part of the Zaporizhzhia region also corroborated what Larysa said. She said: "When you go to a hospital you need to have a Russian passport. If you do not have a Russian passport, they won't treat you. So people are forced to obtain them. Retired people are forced to obtain Russian passports to receive pensions. It is a matter of survival."
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The report by Yale said Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a series of decrees to compel Ukrainians to get Russian passports, in violation of international humanitarian law. The report said: "While states are afforded wide discretion under international law with regards to conferring nationality, customary international law clearly forbids the imposition of citizenship without consent or under duress."
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