The brutal role of Russian Passportization.
Author: Editorial Crew | Image: Getty Images
Just imagine being forced by Russian troops to relocate from the ruins of your city, in this case, Mariupol, into Russia. Then, as if forced deportation was not enough of a monstrosity to be subjected to, being forced into giving up your Ukrainian passport to receive a brand new one from the very same authorities that forced you to live in the first place.
That is actually happening to the many forced evacuations to which many Ukranian have been subjected since the beginning of the war. The same country that is destroying entire cities, killing innocent civilians, and reducing some of the Ukrainian infostructures into rubble, is forcing people to adhere to a Russian forced certification and receive a brand new Russian identity. Welcome to the brutal concept of “Passportization”.
Passportization is the mass conferral of citizenship to a particular foreign territory population by distributing passports, generally made within a relatively short period. Russian authorities have primarily used this policy and have provided easy access for persons, usually holders of former Soviet passports, to apply for Russian citizenship.
Its adoption formally began in 2002 when Russia adopted the Law on Citizenship but has been practiced in occupied Abkhazia since 1999. The policy initially targeted countries from the Baltic region, notably Latvia and Estonia.
These were the first post-Soviet countries to move swiftly towards EU and NATO integration after the collapse of the Soviet bloc. To secure its influence in this region, Russia capitalized on the problem of numerous stateless people by granting them citizenship. Through this approach, Russia secured a demographic presence in the Baltic region and further made efforts to hamper integration with the West.
As a result of its usage, while the number of Russian passport holders in regions of adjoining nations grows, Russia then invokes its national interest in defending its citizens by promoting the independence or annexation of these regions.
These new identities are effectively used as an excuse to "protect" those brand new Russians in contested territory, and most importantly, they are part of a relentless effort on the part of the Russian to effectively wipe away the Ukrainian society and its population from the European geopolitical map.
Its application in the Ukrainian aggression is being implemented by intimidating the most vulnerable categories of people - women in distress, people with disabilities, and old pensioners; So far, Russian authorities claimed to have "received" 14 thousand applications for Russian citizenship and have already issued 12 thousand passports.
Forced passportization is illegal under international law and has been used by Russian authorities in Ukraine even before the aggression of 2014. It also is contrary to the principles and norms of international law and is a direct violation of the Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War.
