Leiden University Student Repository

Vries, Rosalie de (2022)

Russian passportization in the Donbas region: Ukraine's security frame: Instrumentalization and Securitization of Migration & Citizenship

Bachelor thesis | Security Studies (BSc)

Since April 2019, Russia has conducted passportization in the Donbas region (Atland, 2020). Although this form of mass extraterritorial naturalization is not illegal, it is considered troublesome by the international community (Natoli, 2010; Peters, 2010; Traunmüller, 2013). Moreover, Eastern Ukraine is not the first conflicted area confronted with this practice (Hoffman & Chochia, 2018; Natoli, 2010). Since passportization is regarded as a potential security threat (Burkhardt et al., 2022b; Traunmüller, 2013), this thesis explores how Ukraine framed Russia’s passportization in the Donbas region between the 24th of April 2019 and the 23rd of February 2022. In particular, the analysis leans on securitization theory. A total of twenty-one official statements, speeches, and interviews by government representatives and President Zelenskyy were analyzed. Findings suggest that, indeed, the passportization is predominantly framed as a security threat.

Ukraine

Russia

citizenship

Donbas

Luhansk

Donetsk

passportization

securitization

Author

Vries, Rosalie de

Faculty

Faculty of Governance and Global Affairs

Supervisors

Premaratne Ganohariti, R.J.

ECTS Credits

15

Language

en