Russia is allegedly housing members of the Federal Security Service (FSB) in a Moscow-controlled region in southern Ukraine in unoccupied, privately owned apartments, according to a local official.
Russia gained control of Kherson, located just north of annexed Crimea, shortly after it launched its invasion of Ukraine in February and later installed a Moscow-friendly administration.
The war prompted thousands of local residents to flee Kherson for Ukrainian-controlled territory.
Now, Russia is placing FSB officers brought in to help maintain control of the region in apartments belonging to those who fled, according to Serhiy Khlan, deputy chief of the Kherson regional council in exile.
Khlan said FSB officers and their families are mainly staying in hotels in Kherson city, the capital of the region of the same name, but are seeking more “comfortable” conditions.
The FSB is making a list of apartments whose owners may have fled for good in order to use to resettle officers and their families, he said.
Due to the ongoing conflict in Kherson, RFE/RL could not immediately confirm Khlan’s claims.
