Putin Orders Ukrainians in Russia to Legalize or Leave, Expands Forced Passportization

Russian President Vladimir Putin has issued a decree requiring Ukrainian citizens residing in Russia without formal legal status to either legalize their standing or leave the country by Sept. 10.

The document states that Ukrainians who have undergone fingerprint registration and photographing will be exempt from administrative liability for violating Russia’s residency rules, provided they apply to the police for legalization.

Additionally, foreign nationals and stateless persons who have entered territories controlled by the so-called Donetsk and Luhansk Peoples’ Republics (DNR and LNR) as well as those residing in the Russian-occupied areas of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions, are required to undergo drug and HIV testing before the decree takes effect.

Foreign citizens are allowed to stay in Russia for no more than 90 days, after which they may be detained and forcibly deported. Starting from Feb. 5, the authority to order the expulsion of foreigners was granted to the heads of territorial and transport police departments, their deputies, and the heads of the Interior Ministry’s migration services.

In the occupied territories of Ukraine, Russia has forcibly issued 3.5 million Russian passports to local residents.

According to a March 4 intelligence report, Putin claimed that Russia had completed the issuance of passports to Ukrainians living in Ukrainian territories occupied by Russia.

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Officials have not confirmed the cause, but pro-war Russian Telegram channels accuse Ukraine of an attack on the territory recently recaptured by Russia.

Russian Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev reported that 3.5 million Russian passports had been issued to Ukrainians in occupied territories – an increase from the 2.8 million reported in March 2024.

Russia has had a policy of forced passportization of Ukrainian citizens in occupied territories since it invaded Ukraine in 2014, a process that has only increased since the start of the full-scale invasion in February 2022.

Mykhailo Savva, an expert at the Center for Civil Liberties, told Kyiv Post that this is a gross violation of the Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Persons in Time of War.

Andriy Yusov, a representative of Ukraine’s military intelligence (HUR), told Kyiv Post: “They are threatening to send them deeper [into Russia], and people are afraid that they will be sent to Siberia.”

He also said that Russia uses deportations “for the illegal seizure of property of Ukrainians in the occupied territories,” adding: “The aggressor country is interested in mobilization resources, labor force and children.”

Russian forces have set up a new 1,000-person filtration camp in which to process the residents of Ukrainian territories that Moscow occupied in 2024.