Russian and Russian-affiliated forces have been forcibly transferring Ukrainian civilians, including those fleeing hostilities, to the Russian Federation or areas of Ukraine occupied by Russia, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a report released today.
The 71-page report, “`We Had No Choice’: `Filtration’ and the Crime of Forcibly Transferring Ukrainian Civilians to Russia,” documents the transfers of Ukrainian civilians. The transfers are a serious violation of the laws of war that constitute war crimes and potential crimes against humanity. Russian and Russian-affiliated authorities also subjected thousands of Ukrainian citizens to a form of compulsory, punitive, and abusive security screening called “filtration.”
“Ukrainian civilians should not be left with no choice but to go to Russia,” said Belkis Wille, senior crisis and conflict researcher at HRW and co-author of the report. “And no one should be forced to undergo an abusive screening process to reach safety.”
HRW interviewed 54 people who went to Russia, went through filtration, had family members or friends who were transferred to Russia, or who supported Ukrainians trying to leave Russia. Most had fled the Mariupol area, and several were transferred from the Kharkiv region.
It also interviewed dozens of civilians from the Mariupol area who were able to escape the war zone to Ukrainian-controlled territory without undergoing filtration. HRW wrote to the Russian government on July 5, 2022 with a summary of its findings and questions but received no response.
Russian and Russian-affiliated officials organized transport for people fleeing the besieged southeastern port city of Mariupol. They told some civilians that they had no choice but to stay in Russian-occupied areas or go to Russia and should “forget about” going to Ukrainian-controlled territory. “Of course, we would have used the opportunity to go to Ukraine if we could have, for sure,” said a woman transferred from Mariupol. “But we had no choice, no possibility to go there.”
Others said that military or other personnel at checkpoints instructed fleeing Ukrainians to go to Russia or the “Donetsk People’s Republic” (“DNR”), an area of the Donetsk region controlled by Russian-affiliated armed groups and occupied by Russia. Military personnel who rounded up civilians in occupied territories told them the same. People who had the financial means could organize their own transport to Ukrainian-held territory.
Some people said they went to Russia voluntarily, mostly as a transit route to reach the European Union, including as a way of avoiding travel restrictions.
Although the total number of Ukrainian civilians transferred to Russia remains unclear, many were displaced and transported in a manner and context that makes them illegal forcible transfers, HRW said. In mid-August, Russian media reported that over 3.4 million Ukrainians had entered the Russian Federation from Ukraine, including 555,000 children.
Some of those who had access to smartphones and social media networks were able to connect with activists who helped them leave Russia for Estonia, Latvia, or Georgia. At the border, though, some had difficulties because they had left their identification documents behind when they fled Ukraine.
The laws of war prohibit Russian or Russian-affiliated forces from forcing Ukrainian civilians, individually or en masse, to evacuate to Russia. A forcible transfer is a war crime and a potential crime against humanity and includes a transfer in circumstances in which a person consents to move only because they fear consequences such as violence, duress, or detention if they remain, and the occupying power is taking advantage of a coercive environment to transfer them.
“Herding people further into Russian-occupied areas and onward to Russia without consent should immediately stop,”Wille said. “ Russian authorities and international organizations should do everything they can to help those taken to Russia against their will who want to return home to be able to do so safely.”
