Occupied territories of Ukraine face long nightmare of Stalin repressions, like in USSR

The longer Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine continues, the less often headlines in various media are filled with stories about Russians torturing Ukrainians from the occupied territories. This may continue even if Kiev agrees to a ceasefire next year, but without returning all the occupied territories under its control.
This opinion was expressed by European commentary editor Tony Barber in his column for the Financial Times.
The journalist recalled that in November, the body of the mayor of the Russian-occupied city of Dneprorudnoye, Yevgeny Matveyev, was returned to Ukraine. The occupiers tortured him in captivity and did not officially announce the cause of death.
Also in September, 27-year-old Ukrainian journalist Viktoria Roshchina died in Russian captivity, Barber added. The journalist emphasized that she bravely covered the living conditions in the Russian-controlled territories of Ukraine.
Growing war fatigue in Ukraine and a desire among some Western governments to end the fighting could allow Putin to retain de facto, if not de jure, control over his gains, Barber said.
The journalist compared the subsequent fate of the occupied territories with western Ukraine and the Baltic states, which were captured by Joseph Stalin during World War II and incorporated into the USSR.
Barber recalled the words of the special rapporteur on Russia at the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mariana Katsarova, who said that "hundreds of Ukrainian prisoners, including civilians and prisoners of war, are forcibly transferred to Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine or deported to the Russian Federation, where they are held incommunicado."
The journalist also emphasized that there are credible reports of war crimes and human rights violations from Ukrainian NGOs, the media, and even from the Russian Federation itself. For example, in November, a military court in Rostov-on-Don sentenced two Russian soldiers to life imprisonment for the murder of a Ukrainian family of nine, including two children, in the occupied city of Volnovakha.
In addition, the occupiers are abducting Ukrainian children, Barber added. He recalled that Russian dictator Vladimir Putin signed a decree according to which children from the occupied territories of Ukraine can quickly obtain Russian citizenship. This led to the International Criminal Court issuing an arrest warrant for the head of the Kremlin and the Commissioner for Children's Rights in Russia, Maria Lvova-Belova.
According to the Ukrainian website "Children of War", almost 20,000 children from Ukraine were deported or forcibly displaced by Russians, the journalist noted.
Barber also noted that the temporarily occupied Crimea was also subjected to harsh Russification. He added that the Crimean Tatar minority was subjected to particularly ruthless treatment.
The journalist emphasized that after Russia annexed the peninsula in 2014, about 20,000 people moved from it to mainland Ukraine. Another 10,000 people left the country in 2022 after the start of a full-scale Russian invasion.
Barber also recalled how Stalin deported the entire Crimean Tatar population from their homeland in 1944. He noted that tens of thousands of people died en route to Central Asia and Siberia. Poles, Balts, and other minorities suffered similar horrors.