Ukraine accuses Russia of imposing citizenship on abducted children

New decree facilitates the naturalization process for foreigners and stateless people. Kiev, which says Moscow has illegally deported more than 19,000 children since the start of the invasion, speaks of “forced assimilation”. A new decree by President Vladimir Putin that makes it easier to grant Russian citizenship to foreigners and stateless people is being singled out by Ukraine as pretext for the alienation of Ukrainian children illegally taken to Russia.

Kiev, which accuses Moscow of kidnapping more than 19,000 children since the start of the large-scale invasion of Ukrainian territory in February 2022, claims that the measure will enable the forced imposition of Russian citizenship, by personal decision of the president, on orphaned children or who were separated from their parents.

The decree, signed last Thursday (01/04), comes amid intensified Russian efforts to renew troops fighting in Ukraine – including recruiting immigrants.

The text provides, among other measures, that citizenship granting processes involving children can be submitted by legal guardians or the head of a Russian organization responsible for the minor.

In a statement this Saturday, the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the decree is evidence “of the crimes of the Russian Federation against Ukraine” and the Russian policy of “forced assimilation of Ukrainian children”. “The introduction of new legislation […] aims to deprive abducted Russian children of the opportunity to return to their homeland”, says the note.

According to the ministry, the measure, in addition to an attempt by Russia to resolve its own demand for soldiers “at the expense of immigrants”, violates children's rights and international laws.

In March 2023, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for Putin for war crimes in Ukraine. The Hague-based court names him responsible for the illegal deportation of children from Ukraine to Russia. Russian Commissioner for Children's Rights Maria Lvova-Belova also faces the same charges.

Of the 19,000 children Ukraine says were kidnapped, only 387 were able to return to their families. The Kremlin claims to protect children from the conflict by taking them to Russia.

Moscow wants to attract more foreigners to the Armed Forces

The decree signed last Thursday also speeds up the process of granting Russian citizenship to foreigners who enlist in the Armed Forces. The processing time was reduced from three to one month.

The move came amid frequent media reports about police operations targeting migrants in the country. People detained in these actions were often being guided and even pressured into signing contracts to serve in the Armed Forces. Those who have recently acquired citizenship are being sent to enlistment offices to determine if they are eligible for mandatory military service.

The most recent operation, reported by independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta, took place on New Year's Eve in Saint Petersburg and resulted in the detention of more than 3,000 migrants. According to an anonymous police source cited by the report, the action was aimed at recruiting men for the Army.

A magnet for hundreds of thousands of people from poorer countries in Central Asia, Russia has made it easier to acquire citizenship on other occasions since the outbreak of war.

Those who signed, in September 2022, contracts lasting at least one year with the Army, and who fought for at least six months in the war in Ukraine, were exempt from the requirement to demonstrate sufficient knowledge of the Russian language and to prove legal stay in the country for at least five years. These processes also took place at a faster speed, taking up to three months.

In May 2023, another decree eliminated the six-month combat criterion, benefiting anyone who had signed a contract for at least one year of service with the Armed Forces during the “special military operation” in Ukraine.

Since the start of the invasion, the Kremlin has mobilized a total of 1.32 million fighters – including prisoners, attracted under the promise of amnesty.

Under the new decree, those who sign a contract with the Armed Forces will not be able to terminate it. The Army is also free to call up additional reservists and keep those already enlisted in service for an indefinite period of time.

The UK Ministry of Defense estimates that the war in Ukraine has so far cost Russia between 150,000 and 190,000 soldiers, including dead and injured, and that this number could reach 500,000 by the end of 2024. According to estimates by Americans, the number of casualties would be even higher: 315 thousand.

ra (AP, Reuters, ots)