DONETSK, Russia — Oksana Shevelina, 62, who came here with her elderly mother just a few days ago from their home in eastern Ukraine, squinted at a map of the Russian Federation.
She traced with her index finger an imaginary railroad into the Russian heartland, through the black earth of southern Russia, across the Volga River and into the industrial towns that dot the Ural Mountains a thousand miles away.
More than a million Ukrainians have been displaced because of the war, the United Nations said in a recent report, and hundreds of thousands of them have found their way into Russia. Faced with that influx, Russia is promoting a huge resettlement program and encouraging refugees to put down roots in far-flung cities across the country.
With promises of work, shelter, pensions and a path to citizenship, the Moscow-sponsored programs are intended to bolster Russia’s image as the benevolent power in the region, embracing Ukrainians who have often fled from government shelling. They also may persuade tens of thousands of Ukrainians never to return home after the conflict ends.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/05/world/europe/shellshocked-ukrainians-flee-to-a-new-life-in-russia.html?hp&
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