Russia has issued its passports to 35-40% of local residents in occupied Ukrainian territories - human rights activist

He sais this on Espreso TV.

"In general, according to our estimates, more than 35-40% of local residents in the temporarily occupied territories have received Russian passports compared to those who live there. That is, the population in the temporarily occupied territories has decreased. Therefore, the Russians do not have even half of the passported population in those territories," Lysianskyi said.

The human rights activist emphasized that the Russians are trying to increase the statistics of passport issuance in the occupied territories by all means

"Accordingly, the Russians will ban entry to all people who refuse to receive Russian passports. In this way, they are reducing the comparative number of passported people. The Russians are doing everything they can to tell the whole world that the majority of the population in the occupied territories of Ukraine has a Russian passport," he added.

• On December 11, Russia introduced new rules requiring citizens who are banned from leaving the country to surrender their passports, including conscripts. Residents of the temporarily occupied territories face a ban on evacuation.
• Several powerful explosions occurred in the temporarily occupied Mariupol late in the evening on December 14. According to preliminary data, a fire broke out at the location of Russian troops.
• On December 15, Mariupol City Council deputy Dmytro Zabavin said that residents of the temporarily occupied Mariupol refuse to take Russian passports even despite the difficult living conditions.