It’s a word that we thought relegated to the history books: “deportation”. But on Monday, May 9, kyiv declared (link in Ukrainian) that “more than 1.19 million [ses] citizens, including more than 200,000 children, were deported to the Russian Federation” since the start of the war in Ukraine. On the same day, the Pentagon claimed to have “signs” that “Ukrainians are sent against their will to Russia”, without giving precise numbers.
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These accusations are not new. Barely a month after the start of the war between Ukraine and Russia, the ukrainian foreign ministry* already accused Moscow of “forcibly deport” thousands of residents of Mariupol to take them to Russia. This country said to have taken in 1.1 million Ukrainians*, but the Kremlin spokesman described the accusations of forced displacement as “lie” from March*. However, testimonies, as well as investigations, have also brought to light a set of “camps” where Ukrainians are taken, often without having much choice, sometimes in the most remote areas of Russia.
What are these “camps”?
Hotels, summer camps, sanatoriums, and even a former chemical weapons depot… The British media I* claims to have located more than 60 reassigned sites for the accommodation of displaced Ukrainians, using satellite images and local media reports. These places “are managed by the Russian Ministry of Emergencies”explains Belkis Wille, senior researcher with the Crisis and Conflict Division of the NGO Human Rights Watch, who interviewed Ukrainians who had passed through these camps.
Russia calls these places “temporary accommodation” (TAP in English). They are not specific to war: they are places that can be converted to serve “to the reception, temporary accommodation, registration and priority life support of the population removed from the emergency zone”according to the ministry (in Russian) – emergencies ranging from wars to natural disasters. But Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky implies that these structures are also used to commit abuses: “TAll the people who went to these territories controlled by the Russians have disappeared. They are in special camps on Russian territory. Some of them just disappeared.”he said on April 20 on BFMTV.
now @theipaper can reveal the location of 66 camps in Russia – known as Temporary Accommodation Points or TAPs – in dozens of sanitoriums, former children’s camps and at least one ‘patriotic education centre’ stretching 5,500 miles from Ukraine to Kamchatka. 10/ pic.twitter.com/SoelwvzIp3
— Dean Kirby (@deankirby_) May 8, 2022
The TAPs highlighted by I are scattered all over the country: some near the border with Ukraine, others between Leonidovka (530 km from the border) and Tyumen (more than 1,800 km), and some in remote areas like Siberia or the Arctic Circle. The total number of these camps is not knownas is the number of Ukrainians there, but a “source close to power”, quoted by the Russian public agency Tass* on May 11, says 34 000 people are accommodated in 523 “temporary shelters”. And from the 12 March, a decree (in Russian) published by Moscow called on each Russian region to prepare to receive a specific number of displaced persons.
How are Ukrainians taken there ?
To leave the territories occupied by Russia or evacuate Mariupol, Ukrainians generally have no choice : they first pass through “filtration camps” run by the separatist forces of Donbass. These structures should not be confused with those spotted on Russian territory. : “Those who have gone through the filtration explain that it is a kind of security check, to filter out those who are anti-Russian or too pro-Ukraine”, explains Belkis Wille. These camps, which already appeared after the Second World War and during the wars in Chechnya, are now reappearing in separatist territories, such as Bezimeniy or Mangouch.
Some Ukrainians who were screened say they rented a hotel room during the process, but others, housed in tents or buildings run by separatist forces, describe deplorable conditions : undernourishment, epidemics of dysentery, as the BBC* reports… They all go through the same stages: phones searched from top to bottom, fingerprints taken, and above all interrogations lasting several hours and physical examinations, to identify links to the Azov Battalion or the Ukrainian government. “They scan your body to see if you have traces that prove that you fought or handled weapons”says a Ukrainian to franceinfo.
“These are not necessarily physical attacks, but psychological violence (…). All that to let out a dozen a day only out of the hundreds who are waiting.”
Dmitry, resident of Mariupol who took refuge in Zaporizhiaat franceinfo
Some testimonies sometimes evoke violence, even outright disappearances. “A woman went through a filtration camp with her brother, but only she came out. When she asked the guard where her brother was, he replied: ‘I’ve stopped counting the people I’ve killed ‘”says Svetlana Gannouchkina, founder of the Russian NGO for aid to refugees Civic Assistance Committee. “It might be a joke, but to this woman it wasn’t. She still doesn’t know where he is.”
Once the filtration process is complete, Ukrainians are reportedly faced with a “choice”. “They were told: ‘Either you stay in a basement in Mariupol without water, without electricity, without food, without care and you will die… Or you go to Russia'”, told franceinfo Oleksandra, a lawyer specializing in human rights. Many therefore choose Russia, especially since Moscow often charters free buses, but “some Ukrainians said they did not know where the buses they got on were going”, says Belkis Wille. After crossing the border, those who have friends or family in Russia can stay with them. But for others, the TAP is the only alternative.
Are these displacements war crimes?
It all depends on whether they are made under duress or not. Article 49 of the 1949 Geneva Convention provides that in a situation of invasion, “forcible transfers (…) from occupied territory to the territory of the occupying power or to that of any other State (…) are prohibited, whatever the reason”.
But for there to be constraint, there is no need to threaten someone with a point-blank weapon. A report* of theOrganization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) considers that the displacements can be considered as forced “because Russia created a coercive environment in which these civilians had no other choice”. A situation that seems to correspond to that described by Oleksandra and Human Rights Watch, since returning to Ukraine means risking his life again.
How are Ukrainians treated once they arrive in these “camps”?
This is the most difficult to know. Testimonies collected by the Washington Post* say interrogations are continuing there, but Ukrainians interviewed by Belkis Wille did not report any violence.
“The conditions are very different from one camp to another, it is not a unified system”
Svetlana Gannouchkina, founder of the Russian NGO Civic Assistance Committeeat franceinfo
Svetlana Gannouchkina adds, however, that in the TAPs, “Medical care for refugees is generally poor, as is food. They are not provided with clothes, and they have no money”.
Some have been offered – not forced – jobs by the authorities, according to accounts given to Human Rights Watch and in the world (article subscribers). But that would be rare, according to Svetlana Gannouchkina, because “many of these TAPs are located in areas that Russians leave precisely because there is no work”. The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense claims that “those who accept receive documents prohibiting them from leaving Russian regions for two years”.
Most of the time, however, refugees can leave these TAPs. “The authorities did not control their movements”says Belkis Wille, adding that “some took a taxi and left Russia via Estonia”.
“TAPs installed in holiday camps have even asked the refugees to leave, to make room for vacationers. But where to go?”
Svetlana Gannouchkina, founder of the Russian NGO Civic Assistance Committeeat franceinfo
For those who have been sent to remote areas, it is very difficult to return to the border, especially without resources and without papers, sometimes confiscated by the camp administration. “It’s illegal”explains Svetlana Gannuchkina: “If the refugees want to get them back, they have to be allowed to. But some TAP workers think they have to supervise the refugees, and therefore prevent them from leaving.”
The information on these TAPs is however still far from exhaustive. How many Ukrainians are missing, and what is happening to them? The accounts of other civilians, captured and then tortured and forcibly taken to Belarus, could provide clues. Why is Russia transporting Ukrainians across the continent? In March, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry accused Moscow of wanting “use them as hostages”*. As the war progresses, the veil could be lifted little by little.
* Links followed by an asterisk are in English.