He and his parents were among the last in their village to take a Russian passport, but the pressure was becoming unbearable.
By his third beating at the hands of the Russian soldiers occupying Ukraine’s Kherson region, Vyacheslav Ryabkov caved. The soldiers broke two of his ribs, but his face was not bruised for his unsmiling passport photo, taken in September 2023.
It wasn’t enough.
In December, they caught the welder on his way home from work. Then one slammed his rifle butt down on Ryabkov’s face, smashing the bridge of his nose.
“Why don’t you fight for us? You already have a Russian passport,” they demanded. The beating continued as the 42-year-old fell unconscious.
“Let’s finish this off,” one soldier said. A friend ran for Ryabkov’s mother.
Russia has successfully imposed its passports on nearly the entire population of occupied Ukraine by making it impossible to survive without them, coercing hundreds of thousands of people into citizenship ahead of elections Vladimir Putin has made certain he will win, an Associated Press investigation has found. But accepting a passport means that men living in occupied territory can be drafted to fight against the same Ukrainian army that is trying to free them.
You sign up, you get a rifle, you shoot a barrack full of ruzzkie. Seems like the only way.
The comments here are all like
a army your own enemy, not gonna backfire at all
They dont hand the Ukrainian conscripts any real functioning weapons, if at all. They are used as meat shields and cannon fodder to absorb the limited ammunition Ukraine has.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Russia has successfully imposed its passports on nearly the entire population of occupied Ukraine by making it impossible to survive without them, coercing hundreds of thousands of people into citizenship ahead of elections Vladimir Putin has made certain he will win, an Associated Press investigation has found.
Every passport and birth certificate issued makes it harder for Ukraine to reclaim its lost land and children, and each new citizen allows Russia to claim a right – however falsely – to defend its own people against a hostile neighbor.
AP spoke about the system to impose Russian citizenship in occupied territories to more than a dozen people from the regions, along with the activists helping them to escape and government officials trying to cope with what has become a bureaucratic and psychological nightmare for many.
If a passport was issued after that time – it was most certainly forced,” said Oleksandr Rozum, a lawyer who left the occupied city of Berdyansk and now handles the bureaucratic gray zone for Ukrainians under occupation who ask for his help, including property records, birth and death certificates and divorces.
The international organization Physicians for Human Rights documented at least 15 cases of people being denied vital medical care in occupied territories between February 2023 and August 2023 because they lacked a Russian passport.
Dina Urich, who arranges the escapes from occupied territory with the aid group Helping to Leave, said about 400 requests come in each month, but they only have the money and staff for 40 evacuations.
The original article contains 2,263 words, the summary contains 254 words. Saved 89%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
The fact that 40% of the US supports this guy is absolutely fucking bonkers.
They would plead the fifth if they could count that high.
I’d love some sauce on that Ü
Sauce.
“Support” might be a strong word, but they don’t view Putin as an enemy.
They don’t condemn Russia or the US leaders that push Putin’s agenda here - that’s how it’s support. How could it be anything else?
thousands of people into citizenship ahead of elections Vladimir Putin has made certain he will win
With what amount of law exists there, these regions are a holy grail for I doubt anyone even knows how much people are alive and still there. They may use aproximations circa 2013 to get an easy way to add votes. They probably didn’t count locals with a passport in a short period of time after Sept. 2023 if at all.
It’s weird though that there’s some legalism making them actually get the passport and sign for service themselves. I thought it could be automated. Probably a way to explain their mission here? Look, they take these papers, so we have big numbers to back up the cause and our governor looks pretty on meetings! I’m not sure why’s that so.
This is actually what the Nazis did during WW2. Russia is a fascist dictatorship.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkssturm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wehrmacht_foreign_volunteers_and_conscripts
Its also what Ukraine is doing right now, so not sure you what your point is.
Fascist scum
Exactly which bit of a foreign country is Ukraine occupying and forcing its citizens to fight for them?
Probably believes the line about Ukraine always having been a part of Russia and its citizens Russians.
I looked through their other posts, their answer was “Russians with Ukrainian passports” so literally yes, they think Russian speakers in Ukraine are property of Russia.
Fuck off fascist
Is there any evidence to support this claim?
That ukraine is forcing people to serve in its armed forces? I thought that was common knowledge.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/15/world/europe/ukraine-military-recruitment.html
No, that Ukraine is forcing captured Russians to fight for them.
I’m assuming you’re a legit Russian troll, because anyone with at least a 5th grade understanding of English wouldn’t need this spelled out for them.
Like I say, you’re either playing dumb or you are dumb. Which is it?
They’re an alt for a hexbear account… so it’s still an open question.
Who is talking about captured russians, Ukraine is forcing russians living in ukraine with ukrainian passports to fight for them, regardless of whether they want to or not. Im baffled at why this is considered controversial its not secret… Maybe underreported, but it seems people here have really bought into the good vs bad narrative anyway and anyone who dares criticize ukraine or st. Zelensky must be a russian troll. The implication being that russian opinions are to be dismissed because of the nationality of the person?
Not quite, but my understanding they’re expats and the option was fight or get lost.
Well, considering the article is about Russians forcing Ukrainians to fight, that’s what rational people would think you meant by “Ukraine is doing the exact same thing.”
No. Ukraine is not doing “the exact same thing.” Both Ukraine and Russia are forcing their own respective countrymen to fight. Only Russia is forcing Ukrainians to fight for Russia.
If you had a point, then that would be Ukraine forcing Russians to fight for Ukraine, which isn’t true.
But I’ve already given you more than you deserve. You are clearly a sad Russian troll who is just doing his best not to get fired.
Good luck coming up with a response to this, I can’t wait to see how jumbled and illogical it is.
If you had a point, then that would be Ukraine forcing Russians to fight for Ukraine, which isn’t true.
But it is? They are literally forcing people no matter their ethnicity or conscientous objections to fight?
His source is Ruzzian media
It’s* also
That can’t weigh well on Ukrainian forces fighting in occupied territories.
this is so fucked up
Good, ukrainis have to die first fighting against ukrainis…
I assume that an alternative headline would be “War crime aficionado, Vladimir Putin, to shit on Geneva Conventions again by using POWs as a meat shield.”
