According to the decree of President Vladimir Putin, about which the British The Independent wrote, almost 100,000 Ukrainian refugees will be sent to the far corners of Russia, including Siberia and the Arctic Circle, as part of forced resettlement.
According to the newspaper, in March the Kremlin issued an extraordinary decree on the resettlement of 95,739 citizens of Ukraine, including from the so-called. Donetsk People’s Republic and so-called. Luhansk People’s Republic and the Russian Federation itself to areas remote from those affected by the war.
The decree stated that “taking into account the current situation” in Ukraine, the Kremlin “approves the distribution” of citizens among “subjects of the Russian Federation” and asks their authorities to “ensure the reception” of 95,739 people.
The document contained a decision to send, inter alia, 11,398 people to Siberia, 7,218 to the Far East and 7,023 to the North Caucasus, including heavily militarized Chechnya, Ingushetia and Dagestan.
Moreover, according to The Independent, citing separate reports, residents of Mariupol in southeastern Ukraine, heavily shelled by Russian troops, were given documents for signature confirming that Ukrainian troops were attacking their city. The signatories were reportedly told they could not stay in Ukraine as they would face “persecution”.