Sep. 11 — After Sep. 10, the number of detentions and forced deportations of citizens who do not have Russian documents may increase in the occupied territories of Ukraine, said Alona Lunova, the director of advocacy in the human rights center ZMINA.

On Mar. 20, Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, signed a decree that obliges Ukrainian citizens who do not have legal grounds for staying in Russia to leave the country and the occupied regions of Ukraine by September 10, 2025, or to obtain the necessary documents.

Lunova noted that in that way, Russia marks Ukrainians who live in their homes on occupied territories and don’t have Russian passports as foreigners and legalizes the grounds for their deportation for violating the migration regime. 

At the same time, deportation to territories controlled by Ukraine is virtually impossible, as the checkpoints between Ukraine and Russia are currently not functioning.

“For example, the situation with prisoners in the occupied part of the Kherson region who were deported to Russia. Prisoners who have already been released from prison are now being held in so-called Temporary Detention Centers for Foreign Citizens. People are simply being kept in places of detention,” said Lunova.

According to the expert, there is no retention period in such centers. People are not provided with medical services. Russians can hold Ukrainians and other foreigners there for as long as they want.

Since the second half of June, Russia has significantly increased the pace of deportation of Ukrainian people through the Georgian border, causing a humanitarian crisis in the buffer zone of the checkpoint. On August 21-22, Ukraine returned 65 people held there.

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