The prosecutor of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol Igor Ponochovny stated this in an interview with ZN.UA on December 14.

Russian passports, as the prosecutor explained, are not recognized by Ukraine or any democratic country in the world, it is considered "an imposed pseudo  document for which there can be no responsibility".

According to him, the documents issued by the occupiers are equivalent to a passport from a souvenir shop, which the Crimean people cannot do without on their territory.

"Therefore, the fake passport of the Russian Federation, issued by the occupation administration, should be perceived only as a means to ensure the necessary living conditions in Crimea during the occupation", - said Ponochovny.

Besides, he considers it appropriate for the law enforcement system to have information on which Ukrainian citizens have a "passport" issued by the Russian Federation in Crimea, which citizens have a property in Crimea, as such persons are potentially vulnerable to Russian secret service and easier to be recruited.

For reasons of national security, according to the prosecutor, it is necessary to oblige Ukrainian civil servants to declare the presence of Russian documents, which they received for registration of their property in occupied Crimea under Russian law, to preserve their property.

"This should be an aspect of state policy aimed at ensuring national security, which would not violate human rights", - Ponochovny stressed.

What is known

• In September 2015, more than 2 million Russian passports were issued to residents of the peninsula.
• The issuing of passports of the Russian Federation affected 90% of the population of occupied Crimea and Donbas.
• On June 4, 2020, the Crimean FSB Border Guard warned that Crimeans with Ukrainian and Russian citizenship could cross the administrative border with occupied Crimea, which Russia considers "the state border of the Russian Federation," only with a Russian passport. An attempt to use a Ukrainian passport is subject to an administrative fine and refusal of permission to leave Crimea.
• On November 25, Ukraine expanded the list of passports of the Russian Federation that are not recognized by the Ukrainian side. Now foreign passports issued in the Krasnodar Territory, where many Crimeans obtain their documents, will not be recognized. How these restrictions will work, read in "The theme of the day".