MOSCOW, January 22. /TASS/. Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky has signed a decree "aimed at preserving the ethnic identity of Ukrainians in Russia," claiming this identity is allegedly being trampled on.

"Today I signed a decree 'On the territories of the Russian Federation historically inhabited by Ukrainians’," Zelensky said in a video message uploaded to his Telegram channel. He argued that this measure was a move to restore "the truth about the historical past for the sake of the Ukrainian future."

According to the decree published on the president's website, the Cabinet of Ministers "is instructed to develop and submit to the National Security and Defense Council a plan of action for preserving the ethnic identity of Ukrainians in Russia, including the lands historically inhabited by them in Kuban, Starodubshchina, and Northern and Eastern Slobozhanshchina within the present-day Krasnodar, Belgorod, Bryansk, Voronezh, Kursk and Rostov regions of Russia."

In particular, the decree envisages a probe into what is described as "crimes" allegedly committed against Ukrainians who live or lived in these territories, "forced Russification, political repression and deportations." It is also instructed to create a center for such studies.

The decree mentions preparations for holding events "aimed at debunking Russian myths about Ukraine." The National Academy of Sciences and other agencies are instructed to prepare and disseminate materials "on the more than one thousand-year history of the Ukrainian state, on the historical ties between the lands inhabited by ethnic Ukrainians and Ukrainian ethnic entities in various historical periods," as well as including these materials in educational programs.

The decree comes into force on the day of its publication.