The Ministry of Internal Affairs prepared a draft decree on surveillance of “secret Ukrainians”

The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia has prepared a draft presidential decree on surveillance of Russians who could secretly retain their previously held Ukrainian citizenship. It is assumed that their data will be transferred to the FSB. The document is published on the portal of projects of normative legal acts.

The decree will be directed primarily at residents of Ukrainian territories that are under the control of the Russian administration. Some of them receive Russian passports and declare their withdrawal from Ukrainian citizenship.

A blank document reporting on “secret Ukrainians” was published by Sota. It refers to the establishment of monitoring of citizens of Russia, who “announced the renunciation of Ukrainian citizenship, but at the same time exercise the rights and obligations of a citizen of Ukraine (pension, labor, social, including guardianship).” Information about them is proposed to be taken into account in a special register.

• The President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, announced the accession to Russia of the territories of Luhansk, Donetsk, as well as Kherson, Zaporozhye, and part of the Nikolaev regions of Ukraine on September 30, 2022. Before that, Russia offered residents of occupied Ukrainian territories to obtain Russian citizenship and obtain both domestic and foreign passports.
• Ukraine considers the issuance of Russian passports to residents of these territories illegal and, accordingly, does not recognize people who received them as Russian citizens – from the point of view of Ukrainian legislation, they remain citizens of Ukraine.
• In October, EU countries announced that they would not recognize Russian passports issued in the annexed territories. Holders of such foreign passports will not be able to enter the countries of the European Union even if they have Schengen or national visas, and new visas will not be placed in such passports.