US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called on the Russian Federation to immediately stop the practice of filtering measures against citizens of Ukraine in the occupied territories.
Source: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken
According to Blinken, “filtration” has already affected 1.6 million civilians.
“Russia must immediately halt its systematic “filtration operations” in Ukraine, which have reportedly disappeared, detained, or forcibly deported from their homes approximately up to 1.6 million innocent Ukrainians, including 260,000 children.”
Blinken asked Russia to release the people who have been detained and permit Ukrainian citizens who have been forced into leaving their nation to safely return home.
“The unlawful transfer and deportation of protected persons is a grave breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention on the protection of civilians and is a war crime,” he added.
Furthermore, he called on Russia to provide outside independent observers access to so-called “filtration” facilities in Russia. US Secretary of State asserted that Russian President Vladimir Putin and his government will not be able to carry out these “systematic abuses with impunity” and stressed that “accountability is imperative.”
See also: Russia has created 19 filtration camps along the border with Ukraine
