Switzerland has declared that Russian passports issued in the occupied territories are invalid.
Swiss authorities have announced that the country has decided to no longer accept Russian travel documents issued in Ukraine and Georgia. In addition, travel documents issued in Russian-occupied territories will also not be accepted for obtaining a visa.
According to the Swiss Federal Council, new travel documents issued in regions occupied by Russia, as well as in the separatist territories of Georgia, will not be recognized as valid travel documents for crossing the external borders of the Schengen Agreement, reports SchengenVisaInfo.com.
The Swiss authorities noted that exceptions are possible in cases where the person holding such a document was a citizen of Russia before the deadline.
Refusal of the EU Council to accept Russian passports:
On December 8, 2022, the Council of the EU decided not to accept Russian travel documents issued in the occupied regions of Ukraine and Georgia and stated that persons holding such documents will not be able to use them to travel to the bloc.
The Council of the EU noted that Russia has been issuing passports to residents of Crimea since 2014, in 2019, this practice was extended to Luhansk and Donetsk regions, and in 2022 to Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions.
Passporting of the occupied territories:
On July 11, 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on the simplified procedure for granting Russian citizenship to all Ukrainians.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine strongly condemned this move and emphasized that the passporting of Ukrainian citizens is legally void and will not have any legal consequences for Ukraine.
EU High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy Josep Borrell emphasized that the European Union will not recognize such passports and recalled the previous statement of Brussels in response to Putin’s decision to simplify the granting of citizenship to residents of the occupied territories of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions.
On September 30, 2022, the General Staff announced that the invaders were forcing Ukrainians to obtain Russian passports in the occupied territories.
