The head of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, Dmytro Kuleba, has confirmed that he was the one who ordered to limit consular services for Ukrainians abroad. Earlier, the mass media published a copy of a letter signed by Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, by which he gave the relevant instructions to Ukrainian consular institutions.
Kuleba claims that Ukraine will not provide services to its citizens abroad because they have allegedly shown their indifference to the issue of the state's survival.
"How it looks now: a man of conscription age left abroad, showed his state that the issue of its survival does not concern him, and then comes and wants services from this state. If these people believe that someone out there, far away at the front, is fighting and giving his life for this state, and someone will sit abroad, but at the same time will receive services from this state - then this is not how it works," the Ukrainian minister was quoted as saying by the Telegram channel "Politics of the country".
According to him, the stay of Ukrainian citizens abroad does not release them from their obligations to the state.
Against the backdrop of Kuleba's statement, Ukraine's diplomatic missions in Poland, the UK and China publicly announced the suspension of consular services for men of conscription age.
In addition, the Ukrainian state-run enterprise named "Document" stated that it had suspended the issuance of passports abroad.
The Ukrainian mass media published a list of services that have been suspended. These include issuing foreign passports, extending their validity and amending them, actions to conclude marriages, registering civil status acts, storing valuables, certifying contracts, issuing certificates of inheritance and property rights, certifying copies of documents and authenticity of signatures, identifying persons, issuing duplicates of documents, and so on.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has promised to reinstate the services once the mobilisation law comes into force (May 18, 2024), but they will only be provided upon presentation of a ‘current’ military ID card.
The suspension of consular services sparked protests from Ukrainians abroad. It was also criticized by many politicians.
“Whoever makes it in time now will receive a passport, and whoever doesn’t have time will just spit at this and get a passport of another state. And you will lose a whole generation,” said people’s deputy and ex-speaker of the Verkhovna Rada Dmytro Razumkov.
Member of the Rada Committee on National Defense Solomiia Bobrovska called Kuleba’s decision “semi-legal” and believes that it has “dubious results, adequacy and content".
Experts interviewed by Western publications predict that Ukrainians will file thousands of lawsuits challenging the authorities' decision. Many of them cannot receive passports that have already been paid for, and the suspension of their issuance has no grounds at the legislative level.
“The courts in such cases must establish whether the relevant decisions of the authorities were made sensibly, in good faith and in compliance with the principle of equality of citizens before the law. In addition, the actions of the authorities must be proportional - there must be a correlation between the consequences for citizens and the goals this decision is aimed at achieving,” Kiev-based lawyer Anna Ishchenko said in a conversation with DW.
At the same time, an adviser to the head of the Ukrainian president's office, Mykhailo Podolyak, said that providing services abroad was not the state's responsibility and emphasized that their suspension was "a clear position of the state". According to him, those who wish to receive the relevant services can receive them on the territory of Ukraine.
The European Commission has so far refused to comment on the decision of official Kyiv.
