Russia’s Duma approves bill authorising property seizures in Ukraine

Russia’s lower house of parliament, the State Duma, has passed the first reading of a bill that would allow property deemed to be “ownerless” to be seized in occupied Ukrainian regions, state-owned news agency TASS reported on Wednesday. 

The move follows a government decree issued in October which established a procedure for recognising property on occupied territories as “ownerless”, and paves the way for official state approval of a long-running practice of the confiscation of homes of displaced Ukrainian citizens. 

Under the provisions of the bill, seized property may be transferred to local citizens who have lost their homes due to “acts of aggression” against Russia, while also permitting Russian citizens to take ownership of Ukrainian property, according to TASS.

The criteria for identifying properties that qualify for seizure is based primarily on being “unable to identify” the original owners, or a lack of “valid documents” that prove legal ownership, with only Russian citizens eligible for compensation, the agency continued.

The measures form part of Moscow’s campaign to further “Russify” areas of Ukraine it currently occupies in a bid to erase Ukrainian identity and culture. Ukrainians who have fled but do not wish to see their homes seized are forced to physically return within a short time frame, endure gruelling security checks and a lengthy bureaucratic process, and are subject to intense pressure to obtain a Russian passport, according to the BBC. 

According to legal expert Professor Nehal Bhuta of the University of Edinburgh, such actions are illegal under international law and represent a clear violation of Article 4 of the Geneva Convention, which forbids the seizure of civilian property in war except in limited cases. Bhuta told the BBC that such Russian seizures were illegal as they stemmed from the “unlawful annexation” of Ukrainian territory.