According to the Ukrainian authorities, this is nothing less than ‘Nazi practices’. The “forced deportation,” as President Zelensky puts it, of at least half a million Ukrainian citizens to Russia. “This is what the worst totalitarian regimes of the past did,” said the Ukrainian leader recently in a speech to the Portuguese Parliament.
According to Zelensky, his compatriots from Mariupol and other besieged towns and villages in eastern Ukraine are first passed through “filter camps.” There, individuals associated with the Ukrainian authorities, or with the infamous Azov battalion, would be picked from the stream through interrogations and identification.
The Russians would usually not be merciful to these ‘filtered’ ones. “Some people who arrive there are simply killed,” Zelensky said.
Ukrainian citizens who pass the selection process would be taken to remote parts of Russia, with no opportunity to return, or even call family. Russia, facing a shrinking population, would like to assimilate these Ukrainians.
Russia denies the allegations. According to government spokesman Peskov there are no forced deportations, but rather Ukrainians who voluntarily flee to Russia to escape the violence of war.
Bad living conditions
As usual in a war situation, it is difficult for journalists to determine exactly what is happening. The Russia correspondent of NRC spoke last week Russian-speaking Ukrainian refugees who have been in such an alleged filter camp. They said that they had been treated well in Bezimenne, eastern Ukraine, and that they had not noticed a selection procedure. These refugees spoke positively about Putin and said they were happy that they had been able to exchange the virtually destroyed Mariupol for Russia.
In other Western media, many stories have surfaced in recent weeks of Ukrainian refugees who talked about selection in the camps, poor living conditions and ultimately forced deportation To Russia.
To start with the latter, it is clear that it is very difficult to flee from war zone occupied by Russia to territory controlled by Ukraine. Initially, civilians who leave their hiding place, whether or not under duress by Russian soldiers, are transported to refugee camps in eastern Ukraine. Several locations are known and visible on satellite images. There are camps in Bezimenne and Nikolske, near the destroyed Mariupol, but also in Vovchansk, which is located northeast of the also besieged Kharkov.
From these camps, Russia only offers bus transport to Russia. Ukrainians who want to go to territory controlled by Ukraine have to rely on taxi drivers who are willing to take a dangerous ride through the lines. This is evident from stories that Western media and human rights organizations recorded from the mouths of refugees who have undertaken this trip.
For example, human rights organization Human Rights Watch (HRW) spoke to 13 Ukrainian refugees who left Mariupol between 21 March and 11 April. On that basis, Rachel Denber, deputy director for Europe and Central Asia, writes to NRC: “All said that Russia offered no means of reaching territory controlled by Ukraine. While they all wanted to go there. Many of them told about family and friends who had ended up in Russia against their will.”
The term ‘forced deportations’ used by Ukraine therefore seems to be justified.
Refugee flow
What exactly happens in the alleged filter camps is less clear. On the basis of refugee stories, it can be concluded that fingerprints are taken, photographs are taken and interrogations take place. “People are being asked what they think of the Ukrainian government, the authorities in Mariupol and whether they have ties to right-wing extremist battalions,” said Denber of HRW. The human rights organization assumes that in this way people are indeed ‘filtered’ out of the refugee flow. There is no proof of that. It is also unknown what might happen to these people.
But it is not inconceivable that they become victims of human rights violations. The self-proclaimed independent republics where these camps in Ukraine are located are known for their flawed human rights. In the ranking of human rights organization Freedom House scored these ‘republics’ DNR and LNR before Putin’s ‘special military operation’ were only four points on a scale of one hundred. The organization cites numerous reports of “abuse, sexual violence and torture” in separatist prisons.
What else is there to say about Zelensky’s claims? The number of Ukrainians in Russia he mentions, at least half a million, may be correct. More than 1 million inhabitants have fled to Russia from Ukraine, according to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, some of whom may have done so voluntarily. As in the Netherlands, the refugees in Russia are distributed over the country. For example, the authorities in the eastern region around Vladivostok, on the Sea of Japan, recently made the arrival of hundreds of Ukrainian refugees from Mariupol known† It is unclear to what extent they are there voluntarily.
Refugee stories show that with sufficient money and the right travel documents, Ukrainians are often free to travel abroad from Russia and thus possibly also reach Ukraine again. This is confirmed by HRW. There are also stories of Ukrainians who are not allowed to leave the Russian region where they are located for two years.
NBC News described last week the despair of Mariupol refugee Natalia Demish, whose son Yuri was forcibly deported to Russia. It is now located in the Nizhny Novgorod region, east of Moscow. According to NBC News, he told his mother by phone that he lives with other refugees in wooden houses surrounded by forest. He would not be allowed to leave the region and see propaganda films denying Ukraine’s existence as an independent country. “I’m afraid he’s being brainwashed,” Natalia told NBC News. Because Russia increasingly hinders the work of Western journalists, stories such as the one about Yuri cannot be verified for the time being.
With the cooperation of Pauke van den Heuvel.
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