Russia claims to have issued 2 million passports in occupied Ukrainian territories

Russia claims over 2 million Russian passports have already been distributed in the occupied territories of Ukraine.

Oleg Agarkov, the head of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in the Russian city of Rostov, stated this, the Russian news agency "Interfax" reported.

"One of the priority tasks is to document the residents of our new subjects (as Russians call the temporarily occupied territories – ed.)," he said.

According to the official,  employees of his department went on "official business trips" to the occupied territories of Ukraine every week in 2023. Agarkov noted that 716 police officers from Rostov were sent out last year.

The Information Center of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Rostov Oblast allegedly registered over a million residents of the occupied territories of Ukraine in 2023.

"Servers for receiving and processing fingerprint cards have been installed and are being serviced in the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions, connected to centralized registries. The collection and processing of fingerprint information is being carried out in the Luhansk and Donetsk People's Republics," Agarkov said.

What we know about forced passport issuance in occupied territories

In December last year, the National Resistance Center reported that Ukrainians were refusing to receive Russian passports in the temporarily occupied territories.

It was then revealed that the Russian occupation authorities decided to "passportize" several hundred Ukrainians working at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant by the end of the year.

Residents of the occupied city of Melitopol who refuse to receive Russian passports are threatened with fines and deportation by the occupiers.

At the end of last summer, the National Resistance Center reported that Russian forces in the occupied territories of the Luhansk region were demanding collaborators to conduct compulsory distribution of Russian passports among teenagers aged 14-18 by October 1.

Previously, Russians offered money to obtain Russian passports for children in the occupied territories. Russian occupiers also offer pensioners money to expedite passport issuance, and they demand lists from enterprises on the captured territories of Ukraine.

Ukrainian Ombudsperson Dmytro Lubinets urged residents of the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine to obtain Russian citizenship to save their lives.

After de-occupation, they can officially renounce their Russian passports. Now, relevant legislation is being developed in Ukraine.

Minister for Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories of Ukraine Iryna Vereshchuk advised not to take Russian passports, not to cooperate with the occupiers, if possible, to leave, and wait for the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Advisor to the Head of the Presidential Office Mykhailo Podoliak noted that both Lubinets and Vereshchuk were right. As he explained, the Ombudsperson said taking a Russian passport should be considered a last resort for safety reasons. The minister argued that one should not just obtain a passport to help the enemy.