Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) plans to abolish border zones in certain sections of the Rostov and Voronezh regions that border Ukraine’s temporarily occupied territories. Similar changes may also apply to the section between occupied Crimea and the temporarily occupied part of the Kherson region.
This is stated in a statement by Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“The Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation plans to abolish border zones in certain sections of Russia’s Rostov and Voronezh regions bordering Ukraine’s temporarily occupied territories, as well as between temporarily occupied Crimea and the temporarily occupied part of Ukraine’s Kherson region,” the statement says.
According to the Foreign Ministry, the relevant changes are предусмотрені by Russian draft departmental orders. In the documents, Moscow explains them by the alleged “inclusion” of Ukraine’s temporarily occupied territories into Russia.
The Foreign Ministry stresses that such administrative decisions have no legal consequences for the status of Ukrainian territories.
“The number of such decisions adds neither legality nor international recognition,” the Ukrainian ministry said.
The Foreign Ministry noted that this is not merely a change in the border-zone regime. Russia is trying to create the appearance that the seized Ukrainian territories have become part of the Russian Federation.
“In fact, this is not about ending border control, but another attempt to erase the border between the territory of the aggressor state and the Ukrainian territory it occupies,” the statement says.
According to the Kremlin’s plan, moving border control to the external boundaries of the occupied Ukrainian territories is meant to create the impression of their alleged final integration into Russia’s administrative system.
At the same time, the Foreign Ministry emphasized that Russian decisions cannot change Ukraine’s state border.
“No law, decree, or departmental order of the Russian Federation can change the legal status of Ukrainian territories. Occupation does not create sovereignty, and an attempted annexation does not generate territorial rights,” Ukraine’s foreign policy agency stressed.
The Foreign Ministry noted that Russia remains an aggressor state and an occupying power regardless of what status Moscow tries to assign to the seized territories in its own legislation.
This concerns the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, as well as the temporarily occupied parts of the Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson regions.
“This does not make the occupied Ukrainian land Russian, and Ukraine’s internationally recognized state border does not shift by a single meter,” the Foreign Ministry said.
The ministry views the possible FSB decisions as another element of a policy of administrative appropriation of Ukraine’s temporarily occupied territories.
“The FSB’s decisions should be seen as another element of a consistent policy of administratively appropriating Ukraine’s temporarily occupied territory and creating the appearance of its ‘final integration’ into Russia,” the Foreign Ministry noted.
The ministry also stressed that changes to Russian documents, administrative boundaries, or maps cannot affect Ukraine’s internationally recognized borders.