Russia is systematically eliminating any trace of Ukrainian identity in the regions it occupies. A Russification that extends from administration to school programs.
Since the start of its incursion into Ukraine, Russia has systematically attempted to eliminate any trace of Ukrainian identity in the regions it occupies. This is the latest information documented by the EBU Investigative Journalism Network. According to him, the first changes are taking place in the administration and the civil service, where Russian is the only official language.
The Kremlin has also accelerated its distribution of Russian passports… Without them, citizens of occupied regions are deprived of many basic services, such as access to medicine. This is what happened in Kherson, liberated at the end of last year by the Ukrainian torups.
“The task of the Russians was to eliminate the existence of the Ukrainian state here in the Kherson region. And to suggest that the inhabitants of “New Russia”, or “Little Russians” as they called them, lived and live here. And that the people who live here have nothing to do with the Ukrainian state, nor with Ukrainian culture, etc….” explains Alexander Samoilenko, head of the Kherson Regional Council.
School programs are not spared from forced Russification. At school, lessons are taught in Russian and history lessons highlight the patriotic values desired by the Kremlin. Ukrainian school textbooks are banned.
“Fundamentally, the manual is a propaganda tool. It’s denying Ukrainian children access to their own culture, to their own history. And it’s trying to turn these children into the model citizens that Russia wants them to become.” comments Agnès Callamard, Secretary General of Amnesty International.
The international community cannot freely access occupied regions… This makes it difficult to gauge the true reactions of people living in these areas to the erasure of Ukrainian identity and culture. But Russia’s cultural dominance is clearly evident.