UN accuses Russia of forcible Russification of the occupied territories of Ukraine

In order to establish control over the illegally occupied territories of Ukraine, the Russian authorities are committing large-scale violations of international law. Under the threat of violence, they are imposing citizenship, laws, and the judicial system on local residents, and are seeking to destroy Ukrainian identity by suppressing culture, imposing the Russian language, re-educating children through educational programmes, and recruiting them into youth groups to instil "Russian patriotism".

This is stated in the report of the UN Human Rights Office, based on more than 2,300 interviews with victims and witnesses of the actions of Russian troops and the occupation authorities.

According to UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk, Russia has created a "suffocating atmosphere of fear" in the occupied areas, and its actions have "torn apart the social fabric of communities and left individuals in isolation, with profound and long-term consequences for Ukrainian society as a whole."

Since the invasion, Russian forces have committed widespread violations of international and humanitarian law, including torture, ill-treatment and arbitrary detention of civilians suspected of opposing it, but "this repression has subsequently extended to anyone they perceive to be opposed to the occupation."

To tighten control and deprive local residents of alternative sources of information, the occupation authorities replaced Ukrainian communication channels with Russian ones and began to encourage denunciation, making people afraid of even their friends and neighbours.

They are trying to uproot Ukrainian children by replacing the school curriculum with Russian and introducing textbooks with narratives designed to justify an armed attack on Ukraine. Many have also been taken to Russia. In both places, they are trying to change children's minds and instil "Russian patriotism".

According to 16-year-old Artem, who was taken by Russian soldiers from Kharkiv region along with 12 other children at the beginning of the war and eventually sent to a school in Luhansk, they were forced to sing the Russian national anthem in class. Teachers also threatened them with punishment and forced them to wear uniforms with the letter Z on them during holidays and vacations.

Artem was able to return to Ukraine, just like Bogdan Yermokhin, who was taken to Russia from the captured Mariupol. He was issued a Russian passport, and shortly before his 18th birthday, Bohdan received a summons from the military commissariat: they wanted to register him as a "Russian citizen" to be drafted into the army.

The report also criticises Ukraine's actions in the liberated areas, including the persecution of those accused of collaboration.

According to the authors of the document, these people often had no choice but to accept work under Russian occupation.

This practice causes people to suffer twice and further divides society, the report says.

The authors believe that the victims of this conflict need not only punishment for war crimes, but also a process of reconciliation and truth-telling, the report says.