Danielle Bell, head of the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (HRMMU), said Russia is illegally consolidating control over occupied Ukrainian territory by creating a “climate of fear” through practices such as arbitrary detention, killings and torture, drawing attention to violations ahead of the publication of a comprehensive report on the Russian occupation since 2022, saying the measures are aimed at forcing the local population to comply, on Wednesday, the 20th of March, reports Reuters.
Russia currently controls more than 17% of Ukrainian territory, where several million people still live.
“Measures of censorship, surveillance, political repression, repression of free speech, restrictions on movement … together created an atmosphere of fear
in which the Russian Federation could systematically dismantle Ukraine’s government and administrative systems,” she was quoted as saying in an interview with Reuters.
The UN observers did not have access to the occupied territories but based their conclusions on more than 2 300 interviews with people who live in the occupied territories, have left the occupied territories or live in the liberated territories.
Bella described the initial phase of rights violations, including killings, torture and arbitrary detention of persons associated with or supporting the Ukrainian security forces.
Subsequent campaigns have targeted freedom of movement, assembly and expression, followed by attempts to transform key state institutions into Russian institutions which violate international humanitarian law. This included forcing schools to introduce Russian in education and imprisoning individuals in Russian prisons.
Bella said that employees were forced to comply with the new system, citing the example of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant where, she said, employees were forced to continue working even if they did not want to.
“When they resisted, they faced threats, intimidation, harassment, threats to their families,
and some even faced arbitrary arrest, detention, torture and in some cases… death,” said Bella.
Bella pointed out that Russia has aggressively facilitated the acquisition of Russian citizenship, making it necessary for access to essential services such as healthcare, social security and housing.
In addition, people have been encouraged to spy on each other, while Russia has tried to cut off communication between those living in the occupied territories and those living in the Kyiv-controlled areas, keeping families separated and isolated from each other.
The Russian diplomatic mission in Geneva did not respond to questions
about the main allegations of the report.
Following the publication of the report, senior Russian diplomat Igor Sergeyev accused the UN human rights bodies of double standards and of ignoring the violations of Kyiv.
Moscow has repeatedly denied allegations of atrocities committed by its forces or deliberate attacks on civilians during the invasion.
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