Ukrainians who received a Russian passport during the occupation in order to survive will not be prosecuted by law, Mikhail Podolyak, a freelance adviser to the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, wrote about this on Twitter..

At the same time, according to Podolyak, collaborators will have to answer.

Podolyak's comment was made against the backdrop of contradictory statements by Ombudsman Dmitry Lubinets and Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk.

The first one stated that Ukrainians who are in the temporarily occupied territories should take a Russian passport to save their own lives.. Vereshchuk, in turn, advised Ukrainians living in the temporarily occupied territories not to take Russian passports..

“There are no contradictions in the advice of representatives of the state Dmitry Lubinets and Irina Vereshchuk to citizens in the occupied territories. If you may not get a Russian passport, try not to get. If you need to take a Russian passport in order to avoid repression, torture, take it,” the adviser explained..

The principled position not to take a Russian passport, according to Podolyak, deserves the highest praise, but Ukraine does not benefit from an even larger number of prisoners and tortured citizens.

“Ukraine will not persecute citizens who have passively obtained “Russian citizenship,” he said, adding that the key is “passively” — that is, under duress.

“For this is one of the important technologies of intimidation on the part of the Russian Federation and an unconditional sign of a systemic genocidal war format,” he explained..

[see_also ids\u003d"

However, those residents who actively assisted the occupiers, held positions in the occupation administrations, helped organize "

Citizens of Ukraine who are forced to obtain a Russian passport should not be held accountable before the law, because they did it to survive, she said in an interview for ZN. UA Deputy Minister of Justice of Ukraine Valeria Kolomiets.