“Intimidation and repression”: Donbas residents who received Russian passports interrogate in Ukraine

Ukraine interrogates residents of Donbass who have received Russian passports. This was stated by the country's chief military prosecutor Anatoly Matios. He also said that Kiev collects information about all those residents of the self-proclaimed Luhansk and Donetsk people's republics who received Russian citizenship.

"We have the full picture, we are now - in the process of investigation - everyone who obtained such citizenship is established, as in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions - these are big numbers ... at the moment we actually own the situation for more than 13 thousand people - a significant part they are identified, they cross the line of demarcation, ”he said in an interview with the Ukrainian Radio-NV.

Matios claims that Ukrainian investigators act in accordance with the law. However, in fact, this “consequence” violates several norms at once, noted Vladimir Olenchenko, a senior researcher at the Center for European Studies at the Institute of World Economy and International Relations of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

“The competence of the military prosecutor is to investigate crimes committed by servicemen, and here we are simply talking about the residents of Donbass. So this is clearly an excess of authority. Another question is what grounds do the military prosecutor’s office collect information about why a person obtained another citizenship? This does not apply to criminal or administrative law issues, ”he told RT.

“What they are doing now is intimidation and suppression of dissent,” said Olenchenko. “Everything that the Ukrainian authorities are doing today is still in line with the line that it has laid down (ex-president Peter. - RT ) Poroshenko. I would like to hope that the new authorities will make adjustments to this and will adhere to democratic norms of behavior. ”

"Attempt to apply pressure"

With the help of this “investigation”, Kiev is trying to put pressure on the residents of Donbass, but this will not affect the process of issuing Russian passports, Ukrainian political scientist and economist Oleksandr Dudchak is convinced.

“Everything that happens is a way of pressure on the residents of Donbass. They want to show that getting a passport will have consequences. This is an attempt to exert pressure, to spoil the nerves. But I do not think that the authorities will achieve something. This will not affect the mood of the residents of Donbass, ”he told RT.

Thus, according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the DPR of July 25, almost 22 thousand people have applied for Russian passports. According to the results of a survey conducted by the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia at the end of April, about 86% of residents of the DPR and LPR would like to receive a Russian passport.

Such sentiments developed because of the policy of the Ukrainian authorities, who do not want to engage in dialogue with the residents of Donbass, Dudchak explained.

“Official Kiev has no desire to find a common language with the Donbas. People get Russian documents actually forced. This is a response to the policy of Kiev. They want to protect themselves, to secure a future for their children. I think in the end, the overwhelming majority of Donbass residents will receive Russian passports, and Kiev itself and its policies are to blame for this, ”the expert added.

Simplification of the procedure for issuing passports

Recall, July 17, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on a simplified procedure for obtaining Russian citizenship for those who lived in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions of Ukraine until 2014. Prior to this, in April, the rules were simplified for those who now live in the DNR and the LC.

However, in Ukraine they strongly oppose this. So, in May, the Ukrainian government decided not to recognize the Russian passports of these categories of citizens. A Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of the country, Alexander Danilyuk July 22, said that Kiev should take measures in response to the issuance of Russian passports.

“There must be concrete measures to stop this process or become as complicated as possible. This is a violation of the Minsk agreements, a planned provocation and we, of course, will not leave it like that, ”he said, without explaining how this violates the agreement.

At the same time, Russia noted that simplifying the procedure for obtaining citizenship does not violate international law. So, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov recalled the European Convention on Citizenship.

“There is a European Convention on Citizenship, and it says in black and white that any state itself determines who may be its citizen. This one, in my opinion, would be enough, - he said on July 18. - For many years, the EU countries, Hungary, Romania, Poland, have taken citizens of Ukraine into their citizenship. You know that very well. I wonder if you are interested in the reasons for the positions of these countries and why are you still not paying any attention to the problems of issuing passports of foreign states to Ukraine? ”