From Operation Zahid to occupation "evacuations": how today Russia repeats Stalin's methods
On October 21, 1947, the morning came in the western lands of Ukraine, which for thousands of families was the last day in the homes they called "theirs". That day, the secret orders of the Soviet authorities were put into effect with cold precision, and more than 78 thousand people - family members of the rebels, members of the OUN-UPA, or those suspected of sympathizing with the nationalist movement - were forcibly evicted to remote areas of Siberia and Kazakhstan.
This punitive action, called Operation "West", became one of the most massive deportations carried out by the Soviet authorities on the territory of Western Ukraine. Operation "West" was prepared in the conditions of a strict conspiracy. In the central and regional bodies of the MGB and the KGB, lists of families of "unreliable" persons were formed.
In September 1947, a resolution of the Council of Ministers of the USSR "On the eviction of members of Ouniv families from the western regions of the Ukrainian SSR" was issued. At the grassroots level, secretaries of district committees and heads of security agencies received instructions only a few days before the start of the operation, or even during it.
The key goal of the action was to eliminate the "social base" of the insurgent movement — to silence or resettle people who could support the UPA or be associated with it. The operation began at midnight on October 21. In many settlements, authorities and internal troops simultaneously stormed houses. In a matter of minutes, people were ordered to leave their homes and appear at assembly points with minimal luggage.
Most of those who were deported did not even have the opportunity to say goodbye to their relatives, pack all their things or prepare for the long journey. Children, women, old people - everyone was packed into freight cars, not caring about elementary conditions. During the day, the de facto operation was completed: almost the entire predicted part of the population of Western Ukraine was deported. According to official data, 26,332 families or 77,291 people were evicted.
According to some local estimates, there are 26,644 families, 76,192 individuals: among them, 18,866 men, 35,152 women, and 22,174 children. The deportation was not without human losses. Some people could not withstand the harsh conditions of transport, fell ill, died on the road. Many lacked food, water, protection from cold or heat.
New trials awaited them in remote places of exile: life in a foreign land without care, viscous salt steppes, harsh climatic conditions of Siberia and Kazakhstan, lack of means of livelihood, isolation from relatives. Many families have lost contact with those who stayed behind or were evicted separately. Some did not know if their loved ones were alive.
Today's occupation policy is a continuation of the same logic of imperial violence that operated in the 1940s: to break the national identity, to destroy the Ukrainian presence on its land, to replace it with colonizers. The difference is only in forms and technologies, but not in essence - then echelons with Ukrainians went to Siberia, now buses and planes take them to remote regions of the Russian Federation under the guise of "resettlement programs".
According to public and political figure, Doctor of Law Boris Babin, among all the occupied regions of Ukraine, the worst humanitarian situation is currently observed in part of Kherson Oblast and Zaporizhzhia Oblast. It is where the majority of the population are ethnic Ukrainians and Ukrainian-speaking citizens that the Russian occupiers implement the harshest genocidal policies.
Their goal is to completely change the ethnic composition of the regions, displace the pro-Ukrainian population and replace it with colonizers loyal to the Kremlin. There are several mechanisms for deportation. The first is the "squeezing out" of people who refuse to take Russian citizenship. "Such people are declared "foreigners" on their own land and are being prepared to be expelled from the borders of the occupied territories. This is absolutely illegal.
Most likely, they will be deported not to Russia, but to the borders of the occupied zone, for example, through the Caucasian checkpoints. Some people may be deprived of their liberty in advance, being held in special "distribution centers" - the Russian penal system has an extensive infrastructure for this, in particular in the occupied Crimea," Babin tells Focus. The second mechanism is "voluntary" resettlement.
The occupiers offer residents of the occupied territories to move to remote regions of Russia, allegedly under social programs. In fact, it is a tool for the dispersal of the Ukrainian population, its assimilation. "However, the majority of Ukrainians do not agree to these programs. They are most often used by those who already support the occupation regime.
As a result, the Kremlin has revised its policy — now the emphasis is on the forced deportation of pro-Ukrainian citizens who refused to participate in pseudo-elections or receive Russian passports," the expert continues. In parallel with the deportations, Moscow is actively populating the occupied territories with "its" people. These are not only Russians, but also residents of other regions of the Russian Federation, including the Caucasus.
According to Babin, collaborators from Crimea or Donbas are often transferred to occupied cities, often as a "punishment" for internal corruption or work failures. Other "immigrants" - officials, judges, teachers - are sent from Russia itself, because the Kremlin does not trust local collaborators. The property of Ukrainians who left their homes after 2022 is illegally expropriated and transferred to new arrivals.
Such cases are recorded in Melitopol, Genichesk and a number of cities of the Zaporizhia region. The return of deportees is an extremely difficult issue. Some people may be repressed under trumped-up criminal charges. Others, after a short detention in distribution centers, are simply "taken away to nowhere" — without documents and support.
"An illustrative case happened on the Russian-Georgian border in Verkhnyi Lars: there were about 50 Ukrainian citizens who were not received by the Georgian border guards. They were former prisoners released from Russian colonies. Only thanks to volunteers and the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, it was possible to organize their return to Odesa via Moldova by plane," says the expert. This case is rather an exception.
According to Babin, the state apparatus of Ukraine is not ready to provide emergency assistance to thousands of people whom the occupiers may forcefully deport to Georgia, Kazakhstan or other countries. "The problem is not only in the humanitarian aspect. We must fight for every citizen so that people do not become "cannon fodder" for the Russian army.
" This requires practical steps - state aid programs, motivational mechanisms, legal support for those who seek to flee the occupation to third countries or to the territory controlled by Ukraine. Unfortunately, there are currently no such mechanisms. Ukraine liquidated the specialized Ministry for Occupied Territories, and its functions are actually blurred. And although the Presidential Representation on Crimean Affairs formally operates, it does not demonstrate systematic work," Babin notes.
The expert emphasizes that those who found themselves in the occupation are not traitors and are not to blame for their situation. "They simply woke up in Melitopol on February 24, 2022 under occupation. It's not their fault. And the state is obliged to help them," the expert emphasizes. Help is not only humanitarian, but also strategic: every Ukrainian who does not end up in the Russian army is already a contribution to victory.