Ukraine considers expelling all Russian citizens who came to Crimea illegally after its deoccupation

Ukraine is considering expelling all Russian citizens, who came to Crimea illegally, after its deoccupation, Tamila Tasheva, representative of Ukraine's president in Crimea wrote.

"According to Ukrainian legislation, all foreigners who entered the peninsula after 2014 not through Ukrainian checkpoints or through them, but violated the terms of stay, live in the territory of Crimea illegally. The decision is simple and does not contradict international law: the population that came illegally to the territory of the peninsula must leave the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol through voluntary departure or forced expulsion," she wrote for Ukrainska Pravda.

She added that the current legislation of Ukraine also provides for the possibility of forced return for foreigners and stateless persons. Currently, it cannot be applied to the temporarily occupied territory, but on the basis of this Law, a mechanism for expelling Russian citizens from Crimea will be further developed, Tasheva wrote. Tasheva added that Ukraine does not recognize the occupation passports that the Russian Federation forcibly distributed to the residents of Crimea. "All of them were and remain citizens of Ukraine," she stressed.