Ned Yeung<p>Russian President Vladimir Putin has issued a decree that appears to present Ukrainians living in occupied territories with a choice — submit to Russian law by Sept. 10 or face punishment.</p><p>The decree, published by the Kremlin on March 20, is just the latest move in a long-standing campaign aimed at forcing Ukrainians under occupation to accept Russian citizenship.</p><p>The motivation is simple — the greater the number of Russian citizens living in an occupied area of Ukraine, the easier it is for Moscow to justify its control. And with peace negotiations in progress, asserting an illusion of authority over Ukraine's east and south has never been more vital for the Kremlin.</p><p>The choice presented to Ukrainians by Russia is an illusion — refusing a passport means no access to legal work, basic health services, pensions, or property rights, while "deportation" means anything but being sent back to Ukraine or another country.</p><p>"We know that a large number of people are kept in detention centers, and they are not deported anywhere," Kseniia Yeltsova, co-chair of Helping to Leave, a Ukrainian charity that tries to help people leaving the occupied territories, told the Kyiv Independent.</p><p>"People are simply gathered there, and that's it."</p><p>"Citizens of Ukraine who are in the Russian Federation and do not have legal grounds for staying (residing) in the Russian Federation are required to leave the Russian Federation on their own or regulate their legal status in the Russian Federation by Sept. 10, 2025," the decree reads.</p><p>Russia illegally declared annexation of fully occupied Crimea in 2014 and partially occupied Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia in 2022, de facto treating Ukrainian sovereign territory as its own regions.</p><p>The decree comes amid Moscow's efforts to Russify the conquered territories by pressuring Ukrainian citizens into accepting Russian passports or forcing them out while trying to attract Russian citizens to move in.</p><p><a href="https://kyivindependent.com/putin-issued-a-decree-now-millions-of-ukrainians-face-an-impossible-decision/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">kyivindependent.com/putin-issu</span><span class="invisible">ed-a-decree-now-millions-of-ukrainians-face-an-impossible-decision/</span></a></p><p><a href="https://kyivindependent.com/putin-orders-ukrainian-citizens-without-legal-status-to-leave-russia-occupied-territories-by-sept-10/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">kyivindependent.com/putin-orde</span><span class="invisible">rs-ukrainian-citizens-without-legal-status-to-leave-russia-occupied-territories-by-sept-10/</span></a></p><p><a href="https://beige.party/tags/SlavaUkraini" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>SlavaUkraini</span></a></p>