According to the Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, the Russian authorities continue to flagrantly violate the norms of international humanitarian law, deliberately altering the demographics of the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine and settling them with individuals from the Russian Federation and foreign nationals, particularly from Central Asia, Africa, and the Caucasus.

Russian lawlessness deprives Ukrainians of their homes twice: first by forcing them to flee the occupied territories, and subsequently by seizing the properties left behind under occupation. Russia initiated this criminal policy as early as 2014 and is now scaling up the plunder through state programs and legislative initiatives.

We are grateful to human rights defenders who draw global attention to Russia's crimes in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine. In particular, a study conducted by the human rights organization Human Rights Watch exposes the details of sham procedures introduced by the Russian occupational authorities to declare property "ownerless" for subsequent confiscation. The HRW report thoroughly documents an illegal real estate "re-registration" campaign, which is contingent upon a series of unlawful requirements that are impossible for the rightful owners to fulfill.

The vital testimonies gathered by Human Rights Watch researchers within this project will be utilized by the MFA and other state institutions to protect the rights of Ukrainian citizens in national and international jurisdictions, and to hold those responsible for the unlawful expropriation of property accountable.

Moscow is effectively repeating the exact same crimes of the previous century, when people were moved into the homes of repressed "enemies of the people."

The scale of plunder during Russia’s aggression against Ukraine is unprecedented. Ukraine will continue to employ every national and international legal instrument to bring this to global attention and to recover the stolen property. All instances of looting will be meticulously documented, ensuring that perpetrators face inevitable accountability and that property is returned to its rightful owners.

We believe that this policy of Russia is aimed not merely at the expropriation of property, but at the deliberate destruction of the Ukrainian people, Russification, and the theft of Ukrainian territories.

Pursuant to the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, the forcible alteration of the ethnic composition of a population is classified as genocide if these actions are committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national group. A key condition for establishing accountability for this crime is proving criminal intent. In this context, Russia’s elevation of its colonizing ambitions to the status of state programs, development strategies, or laws significantly simplifies this stage of work for Ukrainian and international justice.

We emphasize once again that the illegal expropriation of state, municipal, and private property by Russia and its occupation administrations in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine is null and void. It provides no legal grounds for property ownership to anyone other than the rightful owners and will be subject to revocation in the future.

We remind Russia and every Russian thief: what is plundered will have to be returned.