Forced passportization, not a conscious choice - Chiygoz explained how the occupiers force people to obtain Russian passports in Crimea
Kyiv • UNN
In the occupied territory of Crimea, Russia imposes its citizenship, depriving people of the opportunity to move, work, and receive medical care without Russian documents. This is a forced necessity for survival, not a voluntary choice, notes Akhtem Chiygoz.
In the temporarily occupied territory of Crimea, Russia systematically imposes its citizenship, creating conditions under which, without Russian documents, a person is practically deprived of the opportunity to fully move, work, or receive medical care. As Akhtem Chiygoz, a People's Deputy of Ukraine and Deputy Chairman of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People, told UNN, this is not a matter of voluntary choice, but a forced necessity for survival.
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According to him, at the beginning of the occupation, some residents of Crimea could still leave with Ukrainian documents. However, over time, Russia deliberately introduced such crossing rules that effectively forced people to obtain Russian passports.
You are forced to take a Russian foreign passport to leave Crimea for Russian territory, and then you move either to Europe or to other countries with a Ukrainian foreign passport. In the first year, two or three years of occupation, our people still left the territory of Crimea with Ukrainian passports. But Russia constantly imposed such conditions that you were forced to obtain a Russian-style foreign passport there as well.
In fact, it is a situation where, to physically leave the peninsula, a person must obtain a Russian document, even if they subsequently use a Ukrainian passport outside the Russian Federation. According to Chiygoz, this became especially noticeable after the period of quarantine restrictions and the isolation of Crimea, when crossing opportunities became significantly more difficult.
A separate difficulty is created by the issue of documenting children born after the beginning of the temporary occupation of Crimea. To obtain Ukrainian documents (including a birth certificate), parents are forced to first obtain Russian ones – otherwise, it is impossible to physically take the child out of the peninsula. As a result, people find themselves in a legally vulnerable position: without Russian documents – no possibility to leave, with them – the risk of additional checks.
At the same time, in Ukraine, passports issued by the occupation authorities in Crimea are not recognized. Checks upon entry primarily concern the person's activities during the occupation, including possible signs of collaboration. As representatives of the Crimean Tatar community emphasize, obtaining a document under pressure in itself is not evidence of cooperation with the occupation administration.
At the same time, the situation is complicated by the fact that there is currently no effective mechanism for a full renunciation of Russian citizenship. After the severance of diplomatic relations between Ukraine and the Russian Federation, the procedure is only possible through Russian institutions abroad or directly on the territory of the Russian Federation, which is risky or unattainable for many. In addition, the Russian side often delays the consideration of such applications or leaves them unanswered.
Thus, the issue of Russian passportization in occupied Crimea has a systemic and politically motivated character. It is not about people's free choice, but about an instrument of pressure that the occupying power uses to control the population. In most cases, obtaining such documents is a forced step to maintain basic capabilities: movement, work, access to services, and not a conscious change of civic position.