Open info sources from the West have been blocked. Repressions are so far-reaching that people caught receiving anti-regime messaging from abroad through social media have been arrested. Even searches of telephone contents on the street result in prison sentences.
Observers have noted that the most insidious form of Russification/Russianization is in schools, where students are taught in Russian. Critics accuse the Moscow-grovelling regime of instituting systematic Russification in which the language, history and culture are eliminated.
In Ukraine, the four regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia with Crimea, represent about 20% of the internationally recognized territory of the country – areas larger than Portugal or Hungary.
Pensions, property ownership, life-saving medications, health-care, employment, education even food in places are meant only for those who swear allegiance to Russia and its constitution.
