Russia commits genocide in occupied Luhansk region - ISW

The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) reports.

According to the head of the Luhansk Regional Military District Administration, Artem Lysohor, starting May 6, mothers giving birth in hospitals in the occupied Luhansk region will have to confirm Russian citizenship with at least one of the parents of the newborns in order to be discharged from the hospital. 

ISW emphasizes that if this report is true, such actions violate Article II(d) of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, which defines genocide as “the imposition of measures designed to prevent births in a group.”

It is also noted that Russian occupation officials continue efforts to militarize and indoctrinate Ukrainian youth in occupied Ukraine. On May 1, the so-called Luhansk People's Republic announced that it was developing a new textbook that would teach the modern history of the occupied Luhansk region in accordance with Russian educational standards. 

• In the temporarily occupied Luhansk region, Russians threaten not to give newborn babies to their parents if they do not have a Russian passport.