In the event of the seizure of Crimea, the Ukrainian authorities will expel from the peninsula up to 800 thousand Russians who moved to the republic after its annexation to Russia, Tamila Tasheva, permanent representative of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Crimea, said in an interview with Newsweek.
Tasheva said that all Russians who “illegally” moved to Crimea will be subjected to “forced expulsion”. According to her estimates, this is from 500 to 800 thousand people. In addition, Kyiv plans to “blacklist” about 10,000 Ukrainians who collaborated with the Russian authorities in Crimea. “This will not be an easy process, so we are already developing a legal framework for future proceedings,” Tasheva said.
In May, Tasheva said that a possible expulsion would not affect native Crimeans who received Russian passports. “We recognize all Ukrainian citizens in Crimea who were victims of forced passportization as citizens of Ukraine in accordance with our legislation,” she explained in an interview with Ukrainian media.
Crimea became part of Russia following a referendum in 2014. Kyiv and most countries of the world did not recognize the results of the vote.
Source: Rosbalt
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