MAIN CHARACTERISTICS OF RUSSIA’S IMPERIALISTIC AND OCCUPATION POLICY IN UKRAINE

Abstract

In this research paper, the author analyzes the actions taken on behalf of the Russian government in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine. In particular, attention is paid to measures such as the pseudo-referendums held at the end of September 2022 in the east and south-east of Ukraine, the Kremlin’s propaganda, the policy of the occupiers related to the establishment of pro-Russian administrations, control of the local population, deportation of Ukrainians, the distribution of Russian passports, the introduction of a Russian education system and other measures of Russification as well as mass violations of the fundamental principles of human rights.
 In October 2022, the Russian State Duma unanimously supported the incorporation of the so-called “Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics” and Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions into the Russian Federation.
 After the pseudo-referendums held in the four temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, on September 30, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed “agreements” with the representatives of the occupation regime on the acceptance of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia regions into Russia.
 The documents were published on October 3, but it remained unclear where, in the occupants’ opinion, the borders of Russia now lay in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine.
 These actions contradict the basic principles of international law on the territorial integrity of a state and the inviolability of borders. The results of the “referendums” were not recognized by any country in the world, including the closest allies of the Kremlin such as Belarus, or even those countries that had recognized Abkhazia and the so-called “independence” of South Ossetia (Venezuela, Nicaragua, Syria, Nauru). Accordingly, the holding of pseudo-referendums is another weak attempt by Russia to impoverish Ukraine’s statehood, especially since Russia lost control of a significant portion of its “newly-joined territories” as a result of bold actions on the part of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.