Russia announced on Thursday that it had distributed Russian passports to more than 80,000 inhabitants of four areas of Ukraine that it claims to have attached to its territory, annexations not recognized by the international community.
“Since the four regions were added to the Russian Federation, and in accordance with the law, more than 80,000 people have received passports as citizens of the Russian Federation,” the Russian Interior Ministry said. , quoted by local news agencies.
In September, Russia organized “referendums”, denounced as “simulacra” by Western countries, aimed at taking over the areas it controls in Ukraine in the regions of Donetsk and Lugansk (east), as well as Zaporizhia and Kherson (south).
These annexations, endorsed by Moscow in early October, were strongly condemned by the international community, and are not recognized. Since the announcement of these attachments, the Russian forces have also given ground against the Ukrainian army, withdrawing for example from the regional capital of Kherson.
Even before the start of the offensive against Ukraine in February, Moscow had already distributed hundreds of thousands of Russian passports in the separatist areas in the east of this neighboring country.
After the start of the assault on Ukraine, the Kremlin further facilitated the acquisition of Russian citizenship by Ukrainians.
For observers, Russia is trying with this strategy to strengthen its claims on the areas of Ukraine that it claims, by asserting that they are populated by Russian citizens, recently naturalized.