The Ukrainian resistance group Atesh denounced that Moscow uses foreigners to repopulate occupied areas, promising citizenship in exchange for low-paid work in homes confiscated from displaced citizens.
MADRID, Spain.- The Ukrainian resistance group Atesh denounced that the Russian authorities were transferring migrants, mainly from Cuba and India, to homes belonging to Ukrainian citizens displaced in Crimea and other areas of southern Ukraine under Moscow’s occupation.
The information was published by the newspaper Kyiv Post, which cites reports from Atesh agents about the massive arrival of foreigners in occupied cities such as Melitopol and Yevpatoria. According to the organization, these migrants are settled in houses considered “ownerless,” which were left empty after their owners fled due to the war.
According to Atesh, Cuban and Indian citizens are being recruited into low-paying jobs in the housing and communal services sector, with the promise of obtaining Russian citizenship in the future. The policy would respond to three main objectives: alleviate the labor shortage caused by the exodus of the local population, modify the demographic composition in occupied territories in favor of groups considered more loyal to the Kremlin, and prepare an electoral base to support the pro-Russian authorities in possible electoral processes.
Atesh noted that the program would be coordinated by Oksana Mekhanicheva, identified as first deputy minister of Housing and Communal Services of the administration imposed by Russia in Crimea.
The resistance movement recalled that, in accordance with international humanitarian law, an occupying power cannot transfer its own civilian population or that of third countries to an occupied territory, nor alter its demographic composition, practices that may constitute war crimes.
This context also occurs in the midst of other situations that show the vulnerability of Cuban citizens in Russian territory. This Tuesday, four Cuban migrants died in a fire that occurred in an unlicensed hostel in the city of Balashija, on the outskirts of Moscow, where they were staying without heat or electricity.
According to emergency services sources cited by the local press, the victims had lit a bonfire inside the building to try to warm themselves, which caused the incident. The bodies of two men and two women were found at the scene, and six other people were evacuated, including a 17-year-old Cuban teenager and a child who had to be hospitalized for carbon monoxide poisoning. The nationalities of the rest of those rescued have not been specified.
Russian media They indicated that the home belongs to an owner who resides in London and that the occupants did not have a legal rental contract. The case once again highlights the precarious housing and the exposure to extreme risks faced by many. Cuban migrants in Russia.
