The measure looks like a plan for ethnic cleansing in Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin issued a decree this week that allows for the future deportation of Ukrainian citizens who live on the lands the Russian Federation has annexed since 2014. 

The document says the residents who are Ukrainian citizens in the “new Russian territories” must choose to become Russian citizens or embrace the status of stateless persons or “foreigners” – with possible deportation in the future. The deadline for a decision is 1 July 2024.

Putin’s decree refers to the residents of the Russia-sponsored Donetsk and Luhansk “republics” (DNR / LNR) in eastern Ukraine but says nothing about Ukrainians who have remained in the Crimean Peninsula.

The residents of these enclaves who have DNR and LNR “passports” are given time by 30 September 2023 to apply for Russian citizenship.

Enemies of the state

The document also sets out for the deportation of non-Russian citizens who "pose a threat to Russia's national security," meaning anyone who advocate for "the forcible change of the constitutional order" or engage in “extremist activities or terror acts,” or participate in “unauthorized” workings.

The trouble-makers will be banned from entering back the country.

Russian media reported that Russia already began expelling Ukrainians from their lands in the occupied region of Zaporizhia.

Last month, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant on the name of President Putin for the kidnapping of Ukrainian children, which looks just as another measure of his ethnic cleansing plan.

Earlier this week, the dictator authorized the seizure of foreign property in Russia.

UNHCR estimates the number of Ukrainian refugees from the war at 11 million people, of which some 2 million fled to Russia. The Norwegian Refugee Council says seven out of ten refugees from Ukraine who settled in neighboring eastern European countries risk falling into poverty.