Russia collects fingerprints in occupied Ukraine: National Resistance Center identifies purpose

This was reported by the National Resistance Center.

"Invading Russian forces are creating an appropriate base, hoping that this will help them overcome the resistance," the National Resistance Center explained.

"Fingerprinting was done forcibly, and 'meetings' were organized in villages for this purpose. At the same time, villagers were required to write an application for a Russian passport," they added.

The Resistance noted that in this way, the Russian enemy hopes to increase the percentage of people with Russian citizenship, as the current number of those who received Russian passports does not satisfy the Kremlin.

How Russia forces Ukrainians living in seized territories to take Russian passports

Last summer, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on a simplified procedure for acquiring Russian citizenship for all Ukrainian citizens.

On September 30, 2022, based on the results of the so-called referendum in the Russian-occupied territories, Putin signed "treaties" on the accession of the self-proclaimed LPR and DPR, as well as Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions, to Russia.

On October 5 last year, Putin signed the "laws" on the so-called accession of four regions of Ukraine to Russia. He also appointed Denis Pushilin as "acting head of the DPR" and Leonid Pasichnyk as "acting head of the LPR". Volodymyr Saldo became the "governor" of Kherson region, and Yevhen Balytskyi became the "governor" of Zaporizhzhia. Since the occupiers call these regions Russian, they demand that residents take Russian passports, but there are few people willing to do so. 

Therefore, Russian occupation authorities resort to threats to force people to take Russian citizenship. For example, the occupying forces threaten to deprive Ukrainians of parental rights if their children do not obtain Russian passports.