‘I took a Russian passport to live’ How Putin’s forced passportization campaign deprives Ukrainians living under occupation of medical care and other vital services
In a March 2025 decree, Vladimir Putin ordered Ukrainians living in the occupied territories to obtain Russian passports or “leave” by September 10. In the weeks since this deadline passed, life in occupied areas of Ukraine has become significantly more difficult for those who have failed to comply. Occupation officials are making it impossible for anyone without a Russian passport to see a doctor, send their children to school, get a job, collect a pension, or receive humanitarian aid. In a new report, BBC News Russian gathered firsthand accounts of the consequences of Russia’s forced passportization campaign. Meduza summarizes their findings here.
After Russia began its full-scale invasion in February 2022, Mariia, a Ukrainian mother of two, fled to Europe with her young son. She planned to get settled abroad and then go back to Ukraine to get her daughter, who had stayed behind with her grandparents to finish out the school year. In the meantime, Mariia’s daughter found herself living in an occupied village.
Mariia returned for her daughter in the summer of 2023. And while en route back to Europe, she stopped in Russia so the children could see their father. Mariia hasn’t seen her daughter since. “He took my child and didn’t come back. Then he called and said, “Ha-ha-ha, we’re going to the LNR,” she told BBC News Russian.
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Mariia’s ex-husband had claimed he was taking their daughter bowling. Instead, he took her to the occupied Luhansk region (referred to by Russia as the Luhansk “people’s republic” or LNR). He stopped taking Mariia’s calls and blocked her on social media. Now, she only gets to speak with her daughter when the child contacts her online. And because her ex-husband is living in a Russian-occupied area, Mariia has no legal recourse. “He’s taking advantage of the fact that I can’t take him to court,” Mariia explains. “It’s essentially kidnapping. He stole my child and I [never get to] see her.”
In order to sue for custody of her daughter, Mariia would first have to obtain a Russian passport. And this is just one example of the many consequences of Russia’s forced passportization efforts in occupied areas of Ukraine. In accordance with a decree signed by Vladimir Putin in March 2025, Ukrainian citizens living in the occupied territories had until September 10 to “regulate their legal status” or “leave on their own.” Now, those who haven’t taken Russian citizenship are increasingly being denied access to schools, mobile communications, pensions, medical care, and other vital services.
‘A question of survival’
Russia’s passportization campaign in Ukraine has been ongoing since it annexed Crimea in 2014. After launching the full-scale invasion in 2022, the Kremlin extended this policy to other territories that came under Russian control. “Almost everyone has a [Russian] passport. There was no outright coercion to obtain them, but you can’t do anything involving documents here now without such a passport,” a source from Donetsk told the BBC.
After the city of Melitopol was occupied in March 2022, Olga — a former resident who now lives in Europe — refused to take a Russian passport even though it meant she couldn’t access medical care. When she needed to see a gynecologist in 2023, she had to ask around to find a doctor willing to treat her in secret.
“The doctor treated me under the table because when I first went to the reception desk, I was told that [Russian] documents were required,” Olga recalled. “But there are very pro-Ukrainian doctors who have trusted nurses. If you ask, the medical records are kept outside the hospital — the doctor stores them somewhere else, taking a risk. If you don’t have the contacts, it’s very difficult.”
Human rights experts have also documented cases where occupation authorities in the Zaporizhzhia region denied residents without Russian passports access to medical care — such as withholding insulin from diabetes patients.
Ivan, a Mariupol resident who requires uninterrupted treatment for HIV, was forced to flee to Russia after the full-scale invasion. Once there, he had to obtain his life-saving medication illegally, through mutual-aid chat rooms run by activists. Ivan ended up taking a Russian passport in 2023, after he returned to occupied Mariupol to care for his ailing mother. “I took the papers because there’s no other way to get my pills,” Ivan said, adding that he still feels “hurt and ashamed.”
According to Viktoriia, a source from the occupied city of Rubizhne in the Luhansk region, occupation authorities made a Russian passport a requirement for receiving humanitarian aid in the fall of 2022. “In July and August 2022, the ‘liberators’ simply gave out humanitarian aid. But in September, they announced they would only provide it [to those] with new passports,” she recalled. “Ukrainian ATMs weren’t working, Ukraine couldn’t pay pensions, and it was a question of survival. My elderly relatives were forced to take [Russian] citizenship.”
“Living in Mariupol without a Russian passport is impossible,” a resident named Oleksiy told the BBC. As he explained, Mariupol residents have to present a Russian passport to buy a cell phone plan, get a job, open a bank account, and collect a pension. Oleksiy obtained a Russian passport in 2022, but he held on to his Ukrainian passport too. “I loved Ukraine then and I always will, but I took a Russian passport to live,” he said.
‘The best solution is to leave’
According to Alena Lunova, the advocacy director at the Kyiv-based ZMINA Human Rights Center, Moscow’s passportization campaign has become more coercive over time. “Initially, Russia created a simplified procedure for obtaining a Russian passport for residents of certain regions. But since no one lined up for [these passports], they began to act coercively,” she explained. “The Russians gradually began to restrict those spheres of life in the occupied territories where one could get by without a Russian passport.”
In a 2024 report, the U.N. Human Rights Office documented a variety of ways in which Russia has intensified pressure on Ukrainians in occupied areas to obtain Russian citizenship and papers. “Those without Russian passports faced discrimination in employment rights, property rights, freedom of movement, social security, and access to healthcare and humanitarian aid,” the report said, noting that this puts Russia, as the occupying power, in violation of its obligations under international humanitarian law and international human rights law.
According to the U.N. report, pressure in the workplace is common, especially in the public sector. For example,
In [the] Zaporizhzhia region, the head doctor of a hospital warned an engineer he could be dismissed from his job if he did not obtain a Russian passport. Later, the hospital administration warned him that he could be “taken to a basement.” In [the] Kherson region, a supervisor told a nurse she would lose her job if she did not obtain a Russian passport. Further, the supervisor stated that an internal order required her to report the passport status of all staff to the Russian occupying authorities on a weekly basis.
Viktoriia described a similar situation in occupied Rubizhne. “If the boss obtained a [Russian passport], he would force everyone else under him to do the same,” she told the BBC. Viktoriia recalled one case in particular where a senior foreman was promoted to the head of an enterprise after taking Russian citizenship: “He was the first to obtain a passport and forced everyone else to get one too. He submitted applications to the passport bureau for everyone and announced that anyone who wants to stay and work should go get their passport. Otherwise, you should quit.”
In addition, the U.N. report quoted a man who was detained and tortured by Federal Security Service (FSB) officers for several days, and then instructed to obtain a Russian passport upon his release. “I was told to get a Russian passport or they would bring me back to the place where I was tortured,” he said. “I have a Russian passport now.”
Ukrainian officials have condemned Putin’s passportization decree and urged residents of the occupied territories to prioritize their own safety. “For the Ukrainian state, any papers the occupiers give you are invalid and do not change the fact that we consider you citizens of Ukraine,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Heorhii Tykhyi said back in March. “If you need to take some papers — take them,” he added. “But again, I’ll emphasize that the best solution, if such an opportunity exists, is to leave and go to territory controlled by Ukraine.”
Human Rights Commissioner Dmytro Lubinets told the BBC that Ukraine doesn’t recognize any documents issued by occupation authorities, with the exception of birth, death, and marriage certificates. “All other documents, including passports, have no legal force in Ukraine,” he said. Lubinets also assured that under Ukrainian law, obtaining a Russian passport is not considered a crime or grounds for loss of citizenship, nor is it considered evidence of collaboration.
“Obtaining a Russian passport under occupation is not a violation of Ukrainian law. On the contrary, the crime is forced passportization,” Lunova underscored. “When people under occupation are forced to take Russian passports — that’s a war crime.”
