07.03.2022
(by Euromaidan SOS)
Today Russian media launched an information campaign about the “humanitarian corridors” to be supposedly organized from 10 a.m. on March 7th from Kyiv, Mariupol, Kharkiv and Sumy. In this regard, Euromaidan SOS would like to emphasize the following:
These so-called “corridors” are proposed unilaterally by the Russian Federation. Most of them are likely to direct people to the territories of Russia or Belarus. Ukraine strongly opposes the intention of the Russian Federation to relocate Ukrainian citizens to either Belarus or later to the Russian Federation, and demands from the Russian Federation to approve and maintain safety of the routes proposed by Ukraine and suggesting relocation within the territory of Ukraine.
Euromaidan SOS has strong reasons to suggest that relocation to the territories of Russia or Belarus would constitute a serious danger to all Ukrainian citizens without any exception. Multiple war crimes committed by the Russian side in the course of the ongoing hostilities including deliberate attacks against the civilian population clearly confirm the worst possible intentions of the Russian Federation with regard to its treatment of the Ukrainian people.
Both Russia and Belarus are well-known for their widespread repressive practices against their own citizens, so it would only be logical to assume that Ukrainian citizens in Belarus and Russia will face even more severe repressions. In particular, if relocated, the vast majority of the Ukrainian citizens in Russia could be prosecuted in line with the recently introduced criminal liability for calls to end Russian aggression in Ukraine, which are now punishable by up to 15 years in prison.
Forced displacement of the Ukrainian citizens from the temporary occupied territories in Ukraine to the territory of Russia or Belarus is an international crime and should never be allowed, even under the pretext of creating deceptive “humanitarian corridors”.
Euromaidan SOS urges the citizens of Ukraine to be extremely vigilant about Russia’s unilateral proposals of the so-called “humanitarian corridors” leading to the territories of the Russian Federation or Belarus.