The authorities in occupied areas of Ukraine are almost certainly coercing the population to accept Russia's passports, British Intelligence reported in its daily update on Ukraine on 24 April 2023.
Ukrainian residents in Kherson Oblast (southern Ukraine) have been warned that those who have not accepted a Russian passport by 1 June 2023 will be "deported" and their property seized, according to British Intelligence.
Russian occupiers remove Ukrainian from school curriculum in Zaporizhzhia Oblast
Russian occupiers are likely expediating the integration of the occupied territories of Ukraine into the bureaucracy of Russia to help paint the invasion as a success, especially in the run-up to the 2024 presidential elections, British Intelligence suggested.
Russia uses passports as a tool in the "Russification" of Ukrainians on the occupied territories. According to British Intelligence, the exact process occurred in occupied Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts (eastern Ukraine) before the full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022.
Related:
- Russia struggles to maintain consistent narrative justifying its war in Ukraine - UK intel
- Kremlin’s Russification campaign in Ukraine fuels nationalism and xenophobia within Russia - ISW
- How schoolchildren in Russian-occupied Ukraine are taught to hate their homeland
- Moscow complains about campaign against Russian speakers in Ukraine while waging a far more sweeping one against Ukrainian speakers in Russia
