British Intelligence: Putin Forcing Ukrainians to Take Russian Citizenship

(Patria) - Russian President Vladimir Putin has begun to pressure Ukrainians in Russia and in occupied territories in his home country to take Russian citizenship or relocate elsewhere, British intelligence reported yesterday.

Putin signed a decree on Thursday obliging Ukrainian citizens living in war-torn territories to "resolve their legal status" by September 10, or they will be forced to leave the area, according to the latest intelligence on the war in Ukraine from the British Ministry of Defence.

"The aim of Putin's decree is almost certainly to force Ukrainian citizens who refuse to accept Russian passports and citizenship to leave Ukrainian territory under Russian occupation.

The Kremlin continues to implement a policy of Russification of illegally occupied territories in Ukraine as part of long-standing efforts to eradicate Ukrainian culture, identity, and statehood from there," the report published on platform X states.

Russia considers its Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, which it illegally annexed over a decade ago, as well as the partially occupied regions of Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson, to be its own, the announcement added.