You're reading: Moscow opens hotline for Russians in Ukraine to crowdsource complaints

Are you a Russian living in Ukraine who is being persecuted because of who you are? Do you believe your rights have been violated? If so, Moscow has a hotline for that.

On March 24, Russia’s Ministry of Regional Development announced that it had created a telephone hotline for Russians in Ukraine to crowd-source complaints about violations of their rights.

Russian speakers in Ukraine can call the hotline to “complain about violations of their linguistic, cultural, religious or other rights,” the ministry said in a statement.

Callers can also obtain information “about the conditions and opportunities for participation in the state program to assist in voluntary resettlement of compatriots living abroad,” reads the statment.

The ministry said the complaints of “compatriots” may be submitted through the Moscow phone number +7-495-980-25-40 between the hours of 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. on weekdays, and by email at [email protected].

Russia has justified its invasion and annexation of Crimea under the pretext that it needed to protect ethnic Russian citizens there. Its officials have said that the country also reserves the right to invade eastern Ukriane, where there is a large population of ethnic Russians, to safeguard them from “extremists” following the overthrow of pro-Moscow President Viktor Yanukovych on Feb. 22.

The Kremlin has not recognized Ukraine’s new government, which it says came to power by a coup d’etat led by far-right “fascists.”

Kyiv Post editor Christopher J. Miller can be reached at [email protected], and on Twitter at @ChristopherJM.