Today at 10:22
In the city of Mariupol, Donetsk region, occupied by the Russian army, 40,000 Russian passports have already been distributed, and another 40,000. residents, according to the occupying authorities, are allegedly in line for obtaining Russian citizenship. The given figures indicate that no more than 100 thousand inhabitants remain in the city, and not 200-250-280 thousand, as the occupiers said. This was announced today, on April 17, on the air of the FREEDOM TV channel by the adviser to the mayor of Mariupol, Petro Andryushchenko.
“This suggests that the adult adult and even minor, but over 16 years old, the population is about 80 thousand. Actually, this absolutely coincides with our data. We constantly say that a maximum of up to 100 thousand people are in the city, ”Andryushchenko noted.
Of these people, according to him, no more than 20% voluntarily go to obtain Russian passports.
“All the rest is the actual coercion to obtain a passport. The Russians exert constant psychological pressure on the inhabitants of the city. This is a threat that there will be no social payments, a threat to refuse to issue documents … Either you have a Russian passport, or you have nothing, ”commented the guest on the air.
According to him, total passportization, in which people are also forced to hand over a passport of a citizen of Ukraine and write an application for renunciation of Ukrainian citizenship, pushes residents to leave Mariupol.
“On the one hand, people are forced to obtain [Russian passports], on the other hand, some people who can leave and have gained strength have been traveling from there en masse for the last month, including because of this passportization,” Andryushchenko stressed.
In parallel with obtaining a Russian passport, the occupiers put the male population of Mariupol on military registration, which was fully launched in the city in April. After that, men begin to receive SMS with a proposal to join the Russian army under a contract or enter a military university of the Russian Federation. Andryushchenko has no doubts that the Kremlin will start the resumption of mass mobilization from the occupied Ukrainian territories, and notes that in Mariupol there is not even a need for electronic summonses, since the occupation regime is so tough that “anyone can be reached during the day without any problems.”
“There is no doubt that sooner or later the mobilization will start. We have no doubt that it will be launched primarily from the occupied territories… In this way, the Russians will first of all try to loyalize their own society, because Russians sometimes make quite logical statements: if a “referendum on the annexation of territories” has passed, then these people should defend your choice. The Russians do not think, do not want to see that it was a “referendum” at gunpoint and has nothing to do with the will of real people… Therefore, the occupying authorities will take advantage of this, ensure mobilization in the occupied territories of Ukraine, and then the Russians will follow them.” – concluded Petro Andryushchenko.
