contents
Ukrainians who ended up in their home country of Russia to escape the war should receive social benefits and permanent residence rights in Russia. Russian President Vladimir Putin issued two corresponding decrees over the weekend. What are the backgrounds?
There is no other way out than to be taken to Russia, to the country of the aggressor: numerous Ukrainians have faced this choice in recent months, many of them from the devastated port city of Mariupol. Unable to flee into Ukrainian-controlled territory, they agreed to board buses that took them to Russia to escape missiles, fighting and hunger. They were checked – “filtered” – taken to reception centers in Russia and distributed from there across the country. According to the official Russian interpretation, these people were not abducted but “evacuated voluntarily”. How many there are is unclear: probably over a million people.
Impact on propaganda and demographics
This comes as a shock to many of these Ukrainians. They don’t want to live in the country that attacked their homeland. Some manage to flee to Europe, also with the help of Russian volunteers. But others are forced to stay in Russia. They are too ill, too old or too traumatized to be able to organize an escape. Or they say to themselves: My home is destroyed, I’ll stay in Russia.
It is precisely these people who could benefit from the Kremlin’s offer and try to start a new life in Russia. But the Kremlin’s decrees also show that the abduction of Ukrainian citizens is most likely a cynical calculation.
The presence of Ukrainian refugees in Russia supports the propaganda claim that Russia is helping the Russian-speaking people of Ukraine with this war. In addition, Russia has major demographic problems: Many areas are sparsely populated. Any newcomer is welcome. At the same time, the Ukrainian nation is being bled dry.
Russia’s interest in Ukrainians in the country
Perhaps Putin believes his own propaganda claim that all Russian speakers want to live in Russia. So it doesn’t fit in at all that the abducted Ukrainians see things completely differently. Russia is not as attractive as the government seems to think.
That’s why the authorities are also tying back the Russian volunteers who helped the Ukrainian refugees flee to Europe. This is what happened in the city of Penza: a helper was insulted as a Ukrainian Nazi, a helper was dragged into a car by masked people – probably from the secret service – and threatened and beaten. Both had to stop volunteering. The Kremlin, it seems, has an interest in attracting and keeping as many Ukrainians as possible. Cost what it may.