“Permanent Abort”
Ukraine imposes visa requirements for Russians
06/17/2022, 5:05 p.m
While Moscow is distributing Russian passports to Ukrainians in occupied areas, a reaction has now come from Kyiv: from July 1, Russians will only be allowed to enter the country with a visa. “We are finally breaking the connections,” the statement said.
Ukraine introduces a visa requirement for Russian citizens because of Russia’s war of aggression. The regulation will come into force on July 1, said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the online service Telegram. Ukraine must counter “unprecedented threats to its national security, sovereignty and territorial integrity”.
Prime Minister Denys Schmyhal announced a corresponding formal decision by the government shortly afterwards. “We are definitely cutting ties with Russia,” he added. Visa exemption for Russian citizens has applied since Ukraine’s independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. According to the Ukrainian authorities, the number of Russians traveling to Ukraine has steadily decreased since the annexation of Crimea in 2014.
Russia invaded the neighboring country almost four months ago. The Russian army is now concentrating its offensive primarily on the eastern Ukrainian Donbass region. The cities of Sievjerodonetsk and Lyssychansk in particular are heavily contested there.
Russian passports distributed in occupied territories
For about a week now, Russia has been distributing passports to Ukrainian citizens. Pro-Russian separatists said Russian passports were also being issued in Kherson and Melitopol, two occupied cities in southern Ukraine. “All of our residents in Kherson want to get a passport and Russian citizenship as soon as possible,” pro-Russian regional chief Vladimir Saldo said, according to TASS.
According to a media report, many residents of occupied Mariupol are currently waiting for their pension payments because of the Russian passport regulations. Pro-Russian officials have ordered only those who exchanged their Ukrainian passports for Russian ones to apply for benefits, the British Guardian reported.
Ukraine had condemned the introduction of the special passport procedure and spoke of an “egregious violation” of its territorial integrity. “The Russian presidential decree is legally void and does not affect” the Ukrainian citizenship of residents “of the territories temporarily occupied by Russia,” the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said at the time.