Russia offers cash incentives to resettle its citizens in occupied Kherson region, Ukraine's intelligence says
Russia is offering financial incentives to teachers, doctors and other professionals to move to occupied parts of Ukraine's southern Kherson region, as the area's population may have fallen to just 10–20% of its prewar level, Ukraine's military intelligence agency (HUR) said on October 27.
According to HUR, approximately 500,000 people lived on the Russian-occupied eastern bank of the Dnipro River in Kherson region before the full-scale invasion. The agency estimates that the area's current population may be only a fraction of that figure.
HUR accused Russian occupation authorities of creating intolerable living conditions for Ukrainians, forcing them out and, in many cases, unlawfully seizing their homes and other private property.
At the same time, Moscow is using recruitment programs to encourage Russian citizens to relocate to occupied Ukrainian territory, the agency said.
Under these programs, Russian teachers and doctors are offered one-time payments of 2 million rubles, while junior medical personnel can receive 1 million rubles. The incentives also include higher salaries and other benefits, with contracts lasting at least five years.
HUR said hundreds of Russian teachers and medical workers have already been brought to occupied Ukrainian territories from regions across Russia. It did not specify how many had relocated to Kherson region alone.
The agency alleged that Russian medical personnel are being recruited primarily to serve occupation forces, while teachers are being used to impose Russian identity on Ukrainian children.
HUR said the policy showed signs of war crimes and what it described as genocidal practices.
Under Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, an occupying power is prohibited from transferring parts of its own civilian population into territory it occupies.
The population estimates and allegations could not be independently verified from the information released by HUR.