Russian authorities implement forced labor policy on students from occupied territories in Crimea

The Kremlin is exploiting Ukrainian students from temporarily occupied territories as a labor force, according to Ukraine’s National Resistance Center (NRC). Russian authorities are forcing these young people into involuntary work.

“Youth from temporarily occupied Luhansk are being forcibly taken to annexed Crimea to clean up the aftermath of a fuel oil spill in Anapa under the guise of ‘volunteering’,” the NRC reports.

The forced job assignment refers to a major environmental disaster last December, when two Russian oil tankers sank in the Kerch Strait, spilling over 4,000 tons of fuel oil into the Black Sea. 

Scientists say it was the largest spill of its kind in the region’s maritime history.

The students involved attend a so-called “educational institution” set up by the occupying authorities — a fake agricultural university named after Soviet military officer Kliment Voroshilov.

“We received anonymous messages from students through our chatbot saying it’s impossible to refuse this ‘voluntary mission,’” the NRC says.

Those who decline to work are openly threatened with failing exams, the loss of dormitory housing, or are expelled.

As previously reported, Russia has already enrolled more than 5,500 Ukrainian children from occupied territories into its militarized youth organization, Yunarmiya, or Youth Army.