Moscow ‘deliberately’ repopulating Ukraine with Russians? Vladimir Putin's plan

April 28, 2023

Russia continues a "deliberate depopulation campaign" in occupied areas of Ukraine, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) reported. In its update, the ISW stated that Russia is trying to facilitate the repopulation of Ukrainian territories with Russians.
The American thinktank noted Ukraine's deputy defence minister Hanna Malyar said that Russia was "trying to change the ethnic composition of Ukraine" by conducting a large-scale resettlement. People mainly from poorer and remote regions of Russia are being sent to Ukraine and resettled there, the minister said. Watch: Joe Biden forgets last country he visited. Then a child jogs his memory "Russia may hope to import Russians to fill depopulated areas of Ukraine in order to further integrate occupied areas into Russian socially, administratively, politically, and economically, thereby complicating conditions for the reintegration of these territories into Ukraine," the ISW reported. Earlier, the thinktank had assessed that depopulation and repopulation campaigns by Russia are a "deliberate ethnic cleansing effort" and a possible violation of the Geneva Convention. The ISW also noted comments made by Russian officials that "continue to highlight a pervasive anxiety over potential Ukrainian counteroffensive actions".