Russia intensifies ‘filtration’ terror to keep Ukrainians from occupied Ukraine and steal their homes

Even before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, it was difficult for Ukrainians to return to occupied territory and could be fraught with danger.  Nothing has been seen of Oleh Shevandin, a well-known sportsman from Debaltseve, since he was seized by the Russians after returning in 2015 to get his elderly mother out.  Oleksandr Marchenko was abducted and savagely tortured, when he tried to reach occupied Donetsk, and is still serving a 10-year sentence on manifestly absurd charges.

Since 16 October 2023, the situation has worsened dramatically even for those Ukrainians desperate to reach a dying relative on occupied territory.  Ukrainians hoping to reach occupied Ukrainian territory must first travel to ‘a third country’ and then try to first enter Russia via the airport at Sheremetyevo.  The gruelling interrogations and long waits were described here earlier, with it clear even a year ago that one motive for banning Ukrainians from their own homes was to steal their property.  The demands and level of so-called ‘filtration’ have, however, become even more draconian.  News of Donbas cites a Russian official as saying that a whopping 22% of Ukrainians are refused entry, with this, purportedly, “in connection with compromising information about them pointing to their involvement with foreign security services, as well as through their activities aimed at discrediting the political leadership and armed forces of the Russian Federation.”

In fact, News of Donbas writes, judging by reports on related Internet chats and the accounts of people who have been through such a Sheremetyevo ordeal, the number of refusals is much higher than that given.

One problem that News of Donbas mentions is that, while the number of Ukrainians refused entry is increasing, the number of those willing to talk about their experiences is on the decrease.  They are unwilling, the publication assumes, either due to fear or out of shame.  Ukrainians are subjected to shockingly degrading treatment and are placed before a dilemma, since truthful answers to many questions will clearly result in them being sent back with a stamp in their passport denying them entry while their Ukrainian homes remain under Russian occupation.

On arrival at Sheremetyevo airport, Ukrainians have their passports taken away and receive ‘migration’ forms, including a statement that they are ‘voluntarily’ submitting to the FSB’s actions.

This is followed by hours of waiting and so-called ‘filtration’ measures.  The FSB scour literally everything on any electronic devices, rummaging through a person’s social media pages, noting even ‘likes’, for ‘incriminating’ evidence of the Ukrainian’s support for the Ukrainian Armed Forces, opposition to Russia’s occupation, etc.  Even a long-forgotten ‘smilie’ under the slogan «Путін – хуйло» - [Russian leader Vladimir] “Putin is a dickhead” or words about Russian bombs will guarantee that a person is, at best, refused entry.  The comment from News of Donbas that the person can be thankful that they were not seized and accused of ‘terrorism’ is no exaggeration.  25-year-old Leniye Umerova was imprisoned for almost two years (and only released thanks to an exchange of prisoners) after trying to enter Russia, to get to occupied Crimea and her father who had been diagnosed with cancer.

Before Russia’s full-scale invasion, the Crimean Human Rights Group advised Ukrainians planning to travel to occupied Crimea to leave electronic devices behind or clear anything that the Russians would view as ‘compromising’.  Nothing like that will help anymore, as the lack of social media accounts, evidently wiped contacts lists, etc. will simply convince the FSB that you have something to hide and lead to a refusal (at best).

Russia’s photographing and taking of each person’s fingerprints and palm prints are not confined to Ukrainians alone.  The latter are, however, subjected to gruelling, and totally unacceptable, interrogation.  The FSB does not just grill Ukrainians about their attitude to Russia, to what the latter calls its ‘special military operation’ [i.e. its full-scale invasion]; to Ukraine’s defenders, etc., but wants to hear the person condemn the Ukrainian leadership and Armed Forces,  “At this point the presence of any moral principles may be an impediment, while acting skills and ability to keep a poker face able to conceal emotions – an advantage.  Although those with experience say that you can’t fool the FSB, there are always exceptions.”

There are, clearly, many cases where a person is either allowed through or refused entry without any rhyme or reason.  The journalists spoke with one man, Boris Serhiyovych, who managed to get out of besieged Mariupol with his wife back in 2022, but whose elderly parents and brother remained in the city.  He was, almost certainly after shocking ‘filtration’ measures, able to reach his mother before she died. Later, he tried to return to bid farewell to his dying father but was stopped.  He was unable to be at his father’s funeral, or that of his brother who died soon afterwards of a very aggressive form of cancer. 

News of Donbas reports that even those with ‘pro-Russian views’ can end up refused entry.  The less Ukrainians in occupied parts of Ukraine, the easier it is for the invaders to ‘integrate’ the territory into the Russian Federation.  Having been away for three years, such Ukrainians are either just viewed as redundant, or as covert enemies.

The Crimean Tatar Mejlis, and Ukrainian human rights groups, began warning of Russia’s attempts to change the demographic makeup of Crimea many years ago.  The methods used on territory seized after February 2022 have been even more overt and aggressive.  In March 2025, Putin issued a decree according to which Ukrainian citizens living in their own country will face deportation if, by 10 September 2025, they have not taken Russian citizenship.  It is positively dangerous on occupied territory to express pro-Ukrainian views, or even to speak in Ukrainian, with Ukrainians regularly abducted and, in many cases, sentenced to 12 years or more on insane ‘treason’ charges, linked solely with donations to Ukraine’s Armed Forces, or charities.

As reported earlier, there is another, very clear, motive behind Russia’s aggressive methods for keeping Ukrainians from their homes, namely banal corruption and plunder.  People were forced to leave everything behind when they fled Russia’s invasion, and the occupation regimes which Russia has installed want to ‘nationalize’ – or simply appropriate – those homes and apartments that were not totally destroyed by Russian bombs.  As News of Donbas puts it, such housing is a source of wealth for those close to the Russian-installed occupation ‘authorities’.  One person who has managed to cross into occupied territory several times warns others that they will definitely be refused entry if they admit that their main reason for travelling to occupied territory is to re-register their property. 

This is corroborated by the Ukrainians from occupied Melitopol (Zaporizhzhia oblast) whom RIA-Melitopol spoke with in 2024.  They reported being forced to provide exhaustive details about property owned in the form they were given to fill in, and that the owners of particularly valuable sites, such as shops or good apartments, tended to be refused entry. The FSB check people’s answers about property with computer data, and any attempt to not mention something is likely to be found out and then used as pretext for immediate ‘deportation’.  There are grounds for believing, the publication says, that the FSB at Sheremetyevo have been given a list of the property which the invaders have set their eye on (more details here).