Pro-Kremlin resources are disseminating information that Ukraine allegedly intends to deprive the citizens of all temporarily occupied territories (TOT) of citizenship. They say that this will de facto mean Kyiv’s abandonment of territories captured by Russian troops. In addition, propagandists claim that the commanders of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, who once studied in Russia, will also be deprived of Ukrainian citizenship.

The National Security and Defense Council’s Center for Countering Disinformation claims that these inventions of Russians have nothing to do with reality. Ukraine will never recognize the forced passportization of Ukrainians in the occupied territories. People whom the enemy forces to obtain Russian passports remain only citizens of Ukraine.

At the same time, the Verkhovna Rada is now considering changes to the legislation that will allow deprivation of Ukrainian citizenship only of those people who voluntarily received a Russian passport, thereby effectively abandoning the Ukrainian one.

By promoting this message, Russian propaganda is playing with the feelings of TOT residents and nourishing its narrative that Ukraine no longer needs them. In addition, in this way, Russian propaganda is trying to win over the Ukrainians in the TOT, saying that they have nothing to lose and this is “a new reality that should simply be accepted”. We wrote earlier that a network of propaganda lecturers was being formed in the TOT of Luhansk region.