Russian telegram channels and media disseminate information about the “forced deportation of 800,000 Crimeans” upon the return of Crimea to Ukrainian control. This is manipulation.

Russian propaganda disseminates this information with reference to an interview with Tamila Tasheva, the representative of the President of Ukraine in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, in several publications and in particular, the British Daily Mail. Tasheva said that, according to experts, between 500,000 to 800,000 Russian citizens illegally moved to Crimea. By moving to Crimea, they violated both Ukrainian and international law. When Crimea returns to Ukrainian control, Tasheva believes, most of them will return to Russia on their own. For those who remain, Ukraine can apply the procedure of forced deportation: “Some of them will leave on their own, we are sure of this. Those who do not leave on their own, there is such a thing as forced expulsion in the current Ukrainian migration legislation and in the migration legislation of all countries. Because if a citizen of another country crossed the border illegally, then forced expulsion occurs, so there is only one scheme”, Tasheva said. She also added that certain categories of people who moved to Crimea will be able to apply for a place to live on the peninsula, but first they must leave.

Tasheva's statement does not refer to Crimeans who lived in Crimea until 2014 and received Russian passports after the annexation of the peninsula, since Ukraine does not recognize documents issued by the occupiers. StopFake resource reminds that Russian citizens who moved to Crimea crossed the border of Ukraine illegally and, according to the norms of Ukrainian legislation, must leave the peninsula upon the return of Crimea to Ukrainian control.