Expulsion of Russian nationals from Crimea after deoccupation 'completely legitimate' - envoy

All Russian citizens staying in Crimea in violation of Ukraine's migration legislation will have to leave after the area is deoccupied, so any attempts to brand this as "deportation" are groundless.

That's according to the President's Permanent Representative for Crimea, Tamila Tasheva, who spoke with Ukrinform following a visit to Turkiye, Report informs.

"We have a principled position, which has been formed and has legal norms based on it. All citizens of the Russian Federation, who illegally arrived in the temporarily occupied territory, Crimea, in violation of the migration legislation and border crossing regulations, must move, after the territory is liberated, outside the Ukrainian borders, including Crimea, because they were staying there illegally," the official said.

According to Tasheva, currently, between 500,000 and 800,000 people were supposed to obtain a residence permit and an entry permit.

Tasheva pointed out that Russia is already declaring that it would the "deportation of Crimeans."

"What kind of Crimeans? We are talking about Russian citizens who are not Crimeans. They are persons who temporarily stay on the territory of Crimea. Their expulsion is an absolutely legitimate process. If a citizen of any country crosses the border illegally, they are subject to forcible deportation. So we will apply it," explained the envoy.