Identity preservation and responsibility for crimes. Zelenskyy issued a decree on Russiaʼs territories historically inhabited by Ukrainians

On the Day of the National Unity of Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed Decree No. 17/2024 "On the territories of the Russian Federation historically inhabited by Ukrainians."

The President decided that the government should develop a plan to preserve the national identity of Ukrainians in Russia, in particular in the lands historically inhabited by them — Kuban, Starodubshchyna, Northern and Eastern Slobozhanshchyna within the borders of the modern Krasnodar Krai, Belgorod, Bryansk, Voronezh, Kursk, and Rostov regions of Russia.

For this, the Cabinet of Ministers should involve international experts, representatives of the World Congress of Ukrainians, scientists, and the public, and then submit the plan for consideration by the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine.

To develop the plan, it will be necessary to collect and analyze facts and testimonies about crimes against Ukrainians who live or have lived in the territories of the Russian Federation inhabited by ethnic Ukrainians. This refers to the policy of forced Russification, political repressions and deportations of Ukrainians.

The President also assigns the following duties to the Cabinet of Ministers:

• to counteract Russian disinformation and propaganda regarding the history and present of Ukrainians in Russia and all peoples enslaved by it, as well as to develop interaction between Ukrainians and peoples enslaved by Russia;
• together with the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine to prepare and distribute in Ukraine and the world materials about the more than a thousand-year history of Ukrainian state formation, historical connections between the lands inhabited by ethnic Ukrainians and Ukrainian national state formations in different historical periods;
• highlight in educational programs and textbooks the true history of ethnic Ukrainians in the lands historically inhabited by them within the Russian Federation.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs should also take into account the provisions of this decree when developing a comprehensive strategy for Ukraineʼs interaction with the Ukrainian international community.

The decree entered into force on January 22, 2023.

• Volodymyr Zelenskyy will also submit a bill to the Verkhovna Rada on the introduction of the institution of multiple citizenship. The draft law will make it possible to have Ukrainian citizenship for all ethnic Ukrainians and their descendants, except for citizens of the Russian Federation, as well as foreign volunteers.