Russia issues 584 thousand passports to residents of CADLO - Denisova explains situation

The Ukrainians living in the occupied territories of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts have already been issued approximately 584 thousand passports of the Russian Federation. Ombudsman of the Verkhovna Rada for Human Rights Lyudmila Denisova told this in the Donbas PRIME program, - Ukrinform reports.

"Now, according to our data, 584 thousand passports have been issued to the citizens of Ukraine who live in these territories, some of our citizens are also internally displaced persons", - Denisova reported.

She also told the reasons why Ukrainians living in the temporarily occupied territories received Russian passports.

"Why does a person take this Russian "Ausweis" - so that there is an opportunity to receive some additional payments, or undergo medical treatment, because if a person does not have such a "passport", then no medical treatment is provided. A person cannot buy medicines or get them for free. This also applies to those people who work either as teachers at school, or as doctors in medical institutions. If they do not receive such passports, they lose their jobs altogether. Therefore, people take these passports in order to survive", - the Ombudsman clarified.

Denisova recalled that the Russian Federation was preparing for election to the State Duma this fall: "They think that there (in the temporarily occupied territories of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts, - ed.) will also be something like an electoral district, and the citizens of Ukraine who will receive these "ausweises" will go to vote".

"We know that they are now being forced to register on the electoral website so that later they can vote for the Russian authorities", - Denisova reported.