Russia using internet registration to force passportization in occupied Ukraine
Russian authorities in the temporarily occupied territories (TOT) continue to force passportization of locals by creating additional restrictions for those who refuse a Russian passport, Ukraine’s National Resistance Center (NRC) reported on Jan. 2.
Mandatory passport verification of internet users is the newest method of forced passportization and control over locals.
Internet operators now require passport information based on a Russian passport for anyone who wishes to go online.
This measure is aimed not only at the forced passportization of residents in the TOT, but also at strengthening control, the NRC said. Russians have created and actively maintain a database of residents disloyal to Russia.
Russians used explosions at the Donbas Palace hotel to intensify forced passportization in Donetsk, the NRC reported on Jan. 1.
Before the New Year, Russian police conducted a series of raids in villages in temporarily occupied Kherson Oblast for “preventive conversations” with those refusing a Russian passport.
Russian occupation authorities officially made Ukrainian citizens “foreigners” as of Jan. 1, 2024 and will begin their “deportation,” mayor of temporarily occupied Melitopol, Ivan Fedorov, said in late November.
Russians are conducting forced passportization in all occupied territories of Ukraine to make it impossible for residents to live normally without a Russian passport.
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