Governance initiatives instigated by the russian authorities in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine continue. The russian Academy of National Economy and Public Administration is launching a master’s degree in “State and municipal management” which, according to a representative of the university, will provide graduates with skills to work at all levels of government, including in the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics, as well as in the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions. The russian Justice Minister, Konstantin Chuychenko, also announced that russia has established 58 federal penitentiaries across the temporarily occupied territories in Ukraine, the UK Defense Intelligence reports.
It is likely the establishment of the master’s programme is partly aimed at overcoming the shortage of willing and skilled personnel in russian government roles in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine. It can be linked to russian President Vladimir Putin's plans to create a new administrative elite as indicated in his state of the nation address last month and the issuing of a presidential decree in January 2024 on the establishment of a new personnel reserve.
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This is further evidence of russification measures to align the legal and political frameworks of the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine to the russian federation. Other similar measures to date include extending the russian justice system, imposing a russian education curriculum, issuing russian passports, building russian telecommunications infrastructure.
Read more: The UK Defense Intelligence Analyzes russia’s Major Rail Link Project in Temporarily Occupied Ukraine
