The human rights organization Amnesty International published a report in which it stated that the Russian authorities forcibly moved and deported civilians from the occupied territories of Ukraine, which "tantamount to war crimes and crimes against humanity."
For the report, 88 people were interviewed, 48 of them from Mariupol. Human rights activists said that after the occupation of the city by the Russian military, the evacuation of residents to Ukrainian territory began to be prevented: “evacuation” buses went to the “DPR”, and the soldiers offered to leave only for Russian territory. All but one interviewee were in Ukrainian-controlled territories or Europe at the time of the interview.
According to the report, some of the respondents also told representatives of the organization about torture during the "filtration": they were subjected to former Ukrainian security officials. Later, people were offered to apply for Russian citizenship. The report also mentions that during the displacement of civilians from the occupied territories, children were separated from their families, which violates international humanitarian law.
Some of those interviewed by human rights activists said that in Russia they were forced to apply for Russian citizenship, and their movement was also restricted.
At the end of March, Prosecutor General of Ukraine Irina Venediktova reported that two cases were underway on the deportation of Ukrainians to Russia. Law enforcers say there are signs of a war crime by Russia. The Geneva Convention prohibits forced individual or mass relocation or deportation of protected persons from occupied territory to the territory of an occupying state.
Since the beginning of the war, the Russian side has been forcibly removing citizens awaiting evacuation from the territory of Ukraine. Mariupol Mayor Vadym Boychenko said that more than 600,000 Ukrainian citizens have already been taken to the Vladimir, Omsk, Perm and Chelyabinsk regions and Sakhalin, more than 117,000 of them are children.
In May, former Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights Lyudmila Denisova reported that Russia had illegally deported more than 1.185 million Ukrainian citizens. Denisova explained that those citizens of Ukraine who were “filtered” in “filtration camps” created by the Russian Federation in the temporarily occupied territories are subjected to forced deportation. According to data for May, there were more than 20,000 Ukrainian citizens in some "filtration camps".
