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...Show moreSince 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.Show less
In April 2014 an armed conflict broke out between pro-Russian separatists and the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Donetsk and Luhansk (Donbas) regions in Eastern Ukraine. The extent to which the...Show moreIn April 2014 an armed conflict broke out between pro-Russian separatists and the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Donetsk and Luhansk (Donbas) regions in Eastern Ukraine. The extent to which the Russian government supports the separatists of the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics remains a topic of scholarly debate. Numerous academics have come up with interpretations on Russian foreign policy towards Ukraine but these fail to explain the behaviour of the Russian government in Donbas. This thesis will assess what the foreign policy objectives of the Russian government are in Donbas and how these have changed since April 2014. During the first phase of the conflict, the Russian government attempted to introduce the neo-imperial myth of Novorossiya in order to justify separatism throughout South-Eastern Ukraine. This project failed as the separatist drive did not spread to the regions of Kharkiv and Odesa. Thereafter the Russian government started to focus on keeping the conflict ongoing by militarily intervening to prevent the Ukrainian Army from defeating the separatists but not letting the separatists win the armed conflict either. The Russian government governs the separatists republics without participation of Ukrainian separatists, provides them with necessary financing but at the same time drains the region of its economic resources. The main goal of the Russian government in Donbas is to destabilise Ukraine and keep the armed conflict ongoing by sustaining two highly disruptive separatist republics.Show less
