The Russian State Duma has supported a law allowing the confiscation of Ukrainian property in occupied territories

The Russian State Duma approved in the first reading a draft law allowing the transfer to state ownership of the property of Ukrainians who fled the war and which the Russian authorities have declared ‘ownerless.’ This concerns real estate in the temporarily occupied parts of the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions.

This was reported by the propaganda agency TASS. The document sets out a mechanism for transferring confiscated housing owned by Ukrainians who fled the war to other individuals or representatives of the occupying authorities.

According to the bill, residential buildings, flats and rooms that have “properties considered ownerless” will become the property of the “new” regions of the Russian Federation. Subsequently, this property may be transferred to local residents whose homes have been destroyed or rendered uninhabitable as a result of hostilities or alleged “acts of aggression” against the Russian Federation.

The authorities appointed by Moscow will also have the right to transfer such property to Russian citizens for ownership or for use under a specialised premises lease agreement in accordance with the Housing Code of the Russian Federation. In addition, nationalised real estate may be used to provide social housing to local residents in need.

We would like to remind you that in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, the Russian occupiers have introduced a new method of pressuring citizens who refuse to obtain a Russian passport.

In these territories, Ukrainians who decline Russian citizenship will be deprived of their right to reside there, and their access to a number of social rights will also be restricted.