Putin signs law allowing housing to be seized in temporarily occupied regions of Ukraine

The Russian occupation authorities in occupied parts of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia oblasts have been granted the right to seize housing belonging to Ukrainians who fled the war until 2030 under a new law signed on 15 December by Kremlin ruler Vladimir Putin.

Source: The Moscow Times, an independent Amsterdam-based news outlet

Details: Houses, apartments and rooms in occupied territories of Ukraine "that show signs of being ownerless property" will be deemed by the law to be the property of the regions or their municipalities.

The criteria for determining "ownerless" status will be set by the occupation administrations themselves in coordination with the Russian state bodies Rosreestr and Rosimushchestvo.

The absence of information about the owner or inability to establish ownership based on the documents available will not prevent property from being seized.

Confiscated property may be put to various uses under the law. It may be allocated to Russian citizens living in the temporarily occupied territories who have lost housing "due to hostilities, sabotage, terrorist attacks or acts of aggression against the Russian Federation".

The "authorities" may also designate seized properties as service housing for civil servants, military personnel, officials, law enforcement officers, teachers and doctors.

Background: The occupation authorities in the so-called Donetsk People's Republic have been attempting to persuade locals that mine water is a "suitable alternative" to drinking water, effectively replacing the infrastructure they have destroyed with a toxic surrogate.

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