Deputy Prime Minister-Minister for Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories of Ukraine, Iryna Vereshchuk, said that Ukraine should take a tougher stance on Ukrainians receiving Russian passports and treat it as a crime. She wrote about this in Telegram,
KYIV. UkraineGaten . 21. July . 2022 | World News .
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Vereshchuk noted that the Russians are afraid of imminent counterattacks by Ukraine and want to use the residents of the temporarily occupied territories as human shields. She added that the invaders are in a hurry to issue Russian passports to Ukrainians and hold “referendums”.
“There should be no illusions here: passports and ‘referendums’ are Russian weapons, more dangerous than missiles. If we really want to oppose the occupation, we should take a clearer and tougher position on obtaining the passports of the occupiers and voting in their ‘referendums’ “. We must say clearly: this is a crime against our state!” – emphasized Vereshchuk.
She also noted that there may be very rare exceptions, for example, when Ukrainians receive Russian passports in order to move to the territory controlled by the Ukrainian government.
“But fundamentally, any receipt by a Ukrainian citizen (regardless of the motives) of the passport of the aggressor state should be considered a crime. We must convey this to the citizens who are currently under temporary occupation. I understand that this is harsh, but it is about the existence of the Ukrainian state “, Vereshchuk remarked.
Source: Ukrgate
