The Limited Times

Now you can see non-English news...

Russian forces are depopulating parts of eastern Ukraine, forcibly moving thousands of people to remote parts of Russia

2022-05-27T17:12:40.153Z


Moscow is depopulating parts of Ukraine and forcibly transferring thousands of people to Russia, according to Western sources.


US considers sending advanced rocket system to Ukraine 0:40

(CNN) --

Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians have been processed in a series of Russian "filtration camps" in eastern Ukraine and sent to Russia as part of a systematic forced relocation program that is depopulating regions of the country, according to four sources familiar with the latest Western intelligence data, an estimate far higher than what US officials have publicly disclosed.

After being detained in camps run by Russian intelligence officials, many Ukrainians are forcibly relocated to economically hard-hit parts of Russia, in some cases thousands of miles from their homes, and are often left with no means of return, the authorities said. sources.

  • CNN Exclusive: Leading Experts Accuse Russia of Inciting Genocide in Ukraine and Trying to 'Destroy' the Ukrainian People

Although some Ukrainians have voluntarily entered filtering camps to try to escape the fighting by entering Russia, many have been picked up against their will at checkpoints and bomb shelters.

After spending an average of about three weeks in the camps - where, according to sources and eyewitnesses, they are held in inhumane conditions, interrogated and sometimes tortured - some are sent across the border with Russia and they are given state documentation.

From checkpoints in Rostov and other Russian cities, many Ukrainians are relocated to far corners of Russia, the sources said.

In some cases, the Ukrainians have been sent to the island of Sakhalin, a distant point in the Pacific Ocean, in the extreme east of Russia, 16,000 kilometers from the Ukrainian border.

If they are lucky, the sources tell CNN, Russia will provide them with residential accommodation and perhaps a Russian SIM card and a small amount of money.

Video summary of the war Ukraine - Russia: May 26 14:20

Others are simply left with nothing and are expected to survive on their own.

Other Ukrainians are trapped in filtration camps inside Russia, close to their own homes, unable to get out, other sources add.

advertising

Taken together, the Western intelligence reports described by CNN sources offer new details that go beyond scattered eyewitness accounts of the region and paint a disturbing picture of an exhaustive resettlement process.

Cultural genocide accusations

It's all part of Russia's effort to consolidate political control over the occupied areas, according to the sources, in part by removing Ukrainians believed to be sympathetic to Kyiv and in part by diminishing Ukrainian national identity through depopulation and what some activists of human rights call "cultural genocide".

It is an indiscriminate system that Russia has used before, especially during the two wars in Chechnya.

Intelligence officials believe that all Ukrainians entering Russia are processed through these filter camps.

Senior US diplomats have already publicly condemned this practice and have said that these actions constitute war crimes.

"Ukrainians don't have to be thrown into the back of a truck, but a lot of them are put in a situation where they don't have a choice: you get on the bus and go to the leak and then to Russia or you die in the bombing," said Tanya Lokshina, associate director for Europe and Central Asia at Human Rights Watch.

"They are forced transfers prohibited by the laws of war."

Kharkiv, a city that resists against Russian troops 3:47

The Russian Defense Ministry did not respond to requests for comment.

Exact numbers are difficult to confirm, and official Western estimates range from tens of thousands to a million people.

But even the most conservative estimates point to a massive program of forced relocation on a staggering scale.

And while US officials have publicly cited much lower figures, the sources say it is actually clear that at least hundreds of thousands of people have been pushed through the camp system and sent to Russia.

Late last week, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said that the Russian armed forces are "doing everything possible to prevent deaths among the civilian population."

Since the beginning of the special military operation, more than 1.37 million people have been evacuated from the dangerous regions of the people's republic, as well as from Ukraine to Russia."

Camps run by Russian intelligence

The camps and processing centers inside Russia are largely run by the FSB, the Russian intelligence agency responsible for Moscow's operations in Ukraine, according to three sources familiar with Western and US intelligence.

Before Russia invaded Ukraine, Western intelligence had assessed that the agency had plans to set up and operate a system of seepage camps to kill politically undesirable Ukrainians and send the rest to Russia, according to two sources familiar with the assessments.

The human cost of the Russian strategy is incalculable.

The conditions in the camps are appalling, according to sources and eyewitnesses.

CNN reported earlier this week of testimonies of beatings, dehumanized and invasive identity checks, and a lack of sanitary facilities at these ad hoc facilities, which are set up in camps, schools, and hospitals.

A tuberculosis outbreak has broken out in one of the camps, while Ukrainians have died in another due to lack of medical care, according to a source familiar with Western intelligence.

Those who survive the filtering process and are scattered throughout Russia face an odyssey journey to return home.

Some have been able to cross the border with Georgia, Belarus or Estonia.

But others are probably stuck, thousands of miles from home, without a passport, without financial resources and with few options, the sources say.

"This way they make sure they don't cause any problems [for Russia]," one of the sources said.

"If they have money or access, they can probably get a flight to Georgia. But those are a minority, the majority couldn't afford to leave [Ukraine] in the first place, so that tells you something."

According to a source familiar with Western intelligence, most of the Ukrainians being sent across the border are women, children and the elderly.

But not all Ukrainians who go through the screening process in occupied Ukraine are sent to Russia.

Satellite images show massacres and possible robberies in Ukraine 4:35

Some disappear without a trace.

Others languish in the fields of the Ukrainian territory, according to a report that Human Rights Watch is preparing.

Mariupol survivors

Lokshina, the Human Rights Watch official, said hundreds of Ukrainian men were taken from Mariupol and have been held in two eastern Ukrainian cities, Bezimenne and Kazatsoe.

Some have been there for more than a month, held in school buildings and a local assembly hall.

  • The symbolic defense of Mariupol comes to an end: why is it a key battle in the war in Ukraine?

"They were told they could come out in 2-4 days, once they got through the leak, but they didn't give them their passports back. So even though they're not locked up, they can't come out. Without their passports it would be just suicidal," Lokshina said.

"They are not given any clarity about their prospects and the purpose of their prolonged detention."

Just this week the passports were returned to the Ukrainians from Kazatsoe and they were allowed to leave, but the Ukrainians from Bezimenne are still there.

His fate is unknown.

Detained Ukrainians can use their mobile phones when they have Wi-Fi, he said.

But they also have to be careful about what's on their phones because Russian troops take the devices and connect them to computers that take and appear to store their data, a complete violation of privacy, Lokshina said.

"They fear that the so-called DNR will forcibly recruit them to serve in its armed forces," he said, using an acronym to refer to the self-proclaimed breakaway eastern territory of the Donetsk People's Republic.

Source: cnnespanol

All news articles on 2022-05-27

You may like

News/Politics 2024-03-12T10:34:30.830Z

Trends 24h

News/Politics 2024-03-28T06:04:53.137Z

Latest

© Communities 2019 - Privacy

The information on this site is from external sources that are not under our control.
The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.