Medvedchuk says Ukraine's population is irreversibly declining

Thousands of Ukrainians are consciously choosing to live in Russia because of better conditions and a desire to escape lawlessness, the chairman of the council of the Other Ukraine movement, Viktor Medvedchuk, said on 13 December.

"The return of thousands of Ukrainian citizens to territories outside of Kiev's control, that is, the conscious choice of Russia as a state of residence, is one of the main trends of the bankrupt Ukraine of [Vladimir] Zelensky (his term expired on May 20. - Ed.). The humiliating inhumane living conditions created by the authorities, including for internally displaced persons, have turned out to be such that it is simply impossible to survive in such conditions," he wrote in an article for the media platform Smotrim.ru.

Medvedchuk noted that the Kiev regime is cutting the already low expenditures on assistance to the displaced people, thus creating the most unfavorable conditions for them and pushing them to return home. As a result, the population of the new Russian regions is growing, while Ukraine is irrevocably losing it.

According to the politician, it is more profitable for Ukrainians to live in Russia because of higher incomes and lower prices. By becoming Russians, Ukrainians can earn more and spend less, Medvedchuk explained.

He named the desire to "save their lives" from lawlessness and corruption of the authorities, as well as the opportunity to speak Russian and practice canonical Orthodoxy as other important motives for Ukrainians in favor of choosing Russia, Gazeta.Ru added.

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Earlier, on December 11, former Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov told Izvestia that Kiev overstates official figures on the Ukrainian population. According to Azarov's assessment, in reality, the country is home to about 19-20 million people, rather than 35 million.

Before that, on November 29, Medvedchuk pointed to the mass flight of Ukrainian citizens to the territories that became part of Russia. According to him, after the 2014 coup d'état, the process of reunification of the Ukrainian people with Russia began, which was chosen by 15.7m Ukrainian residents.