Legitimizing the Occupation: Contacts Between Foreign States and Ukraine’s Temporarily Occupied Territories Have Increased by 400% Since 2022 – Research Findings 

Russia has been attempting to legitimize its occupation of Ukrainian territory since 2014 through foreign companies and other countries. This is evidenced by the study “Map of International Support for the Occupiers. How Russia Uses Foreigners to Legitimize Its Presence in the Occupied Territories of Eastern Ukraine,” conducted by researchers from “Realnaya Gazeta.” The findings were presented during a briefing at the Ukraine Media Center. 

“Since 2022, political, economic, and cultural interaction between the occupied territories of Donetsk and Luhansk regions and other countries around the world has increased by a factor of 3 to 5. Thirty-three countries have ‘established’ contacts with Ukraine’s occupied territories. The increase in such contacts across these three spheres since 2022 amounts to 400%,” said Olena Fetisova, news editor-in-chief and researcher. 

In particular, foreign students are already studying in Luhansk.

The study covered the period from 2014 to July 2026 and focuses on three areas: the economic, political, and cultural spheres. 

The previous study is available at the following link: https://realgazeta.com.ua/ietnichna-zamina-iak-instrumient-rosiiskoyi-nieokolonizatsiyi/

Read more: https://mediacenter.org.ua/news