The Illusion of Sovereignty: FSB Redraws Borders to Conceal Occupation

Amidst the ongoing military conflict, Russia is making another attempt to legitimize its actions through administrative mechanisms. As reported by RBC-Ukraine citing the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, the Federal Security Service (FSB) of Russia plans to cancel the border zone regime on certain sections of the Rostov and Voronezh regions. These territories border the temporarily occupied regions of Ukraine. According to Ukrainian diplomacy, the draft departmental orders from Moscow justify these changes by the fact of the "inclusion" of Ukrainian lands into the Russian Federation.

Administrative Fiction vs. International Law

The essence of the FSB initiative lies in the attempt to erase the administrative border between Russia and the captured Ukrainian territories. In fact, Moscow seeks to shift border control to the external boundaries of the occupied zones, creating the appearance that these lands are internal regions of the Russian Federation. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine has sharply assessed these actions, stating that in this way, the Kremlin is trying to "pass off the desired as real" and replace the internationally recognized legal status with its own administrative decisions.

The Ukrainian foreign policy department emphasizes that Russian laws, decrees, and departmental orders do not have the legal force to change the status of territories recognized by the international community as part of Ukraine. "Occupation does not create sovereignty, and an attempt at annexation does not generate territorial rights," the MFA summarized. Russia remains an occupying state, regardless of how it attempts to rewrite maps in its domestic legislation.

Geography of the Conflict and Status of Territories

The issue concerns an attempt to level the border with the occupied parts of the Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson regions, as well as the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol. Kyiv insists that the change of border crossing points by Russian authorities, the issuance of new documents, or the correction of maps does not affect the state border of Ukraine. It remains unchanged and internationally recognized, not subject to unilateral decisions by Moscow.

Contradictory Data

Parallel to administrative manipulations, the Russian side continues to try to create an illusion of a successful advance of its troops on the front. As an example of such disinformation, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine cited a statement about the "capture" of the village of Shcherbakovka in the Kharkiv region. According to official data, this village was liquidated back in 1997. The attempt to claim its capture indicates that Russian propaganda is ready to use any, even non-existent objects, to create fake victory reports.

Political Context of 2026

Against the backdrop of the current date — August 2026 — such actions by Moscow look like an attempt to consolidate the status quo through bureaucratic procedures. The cancellation of border zones in the Rostov and Voronezh regions may be aimed at simplifying logistics and the management of occupied territories; however, from the point of view of international law, this only strengthens Russia's position as an aggressor. Ukraine continues to insist that any attempts to legalize annexation are doomed to failure, and the state borders will remain unchanged until the full restoration of territorial integrity.