The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine expresses its resolute protest in relation to the decree of the president of the Russian Federation that allows for Russian illegal “passportization” on the temporarily occupied territories of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts of Ukraine. We consider this document to be legally null and void and it shall not alter the affiliation to Ukrainian citizenship of the residents of certain territories of Donbas, occupied by Russia.

Russia has, once again, violated the state sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine and in so doing has taken an intentional step towards destroying the Minsk Agreements to which Russia is a party. These actions represent a blatant interference in Ukraine’s internal affairs as well as Russia’s creeping annexation of Ukraine’s Donbas. Russia’s key objective is to destabilize the domestic political situation in this post-electoral period. It also confirms Russia’s intention to continue its act of aggression against Ukraine and its reluctance to deescalate.

The illegal “passportization” of Ukrainian citizens means that the Kremlin recognizes its occupation of certain territories of Ukraine’s Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Once again, Russia debunks its own propaganda narrative that this is a so-called "internal conflict in Ukraine".

Of particular concern is the practice of illegal “passportization” of territories that Russia has illegally occupied. This strategy has been applied by the Kremlin in other protracted conflicts as a legal and humanitarian pretext for further aggression.

In this regard, we demand that the Kremlin administration abolishes this outrageous decision and we call on the international community to respond by increasing political, diplomatic and sanctions pressure on the aggressor state.