The Russian government is trotting out a new master’s degree program in “state and municipal management” for people interested in working in the public sector. But there’s a catch: You have to be living in Ukrainian territory under Russian occupation to attend.

The Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration is launching courses for students willing to work in places like the Donetsk and Luhansk republics, which have aligned with Moscow.

“The establishment of the master’s program is partly aimed at overcoming the shortage of willing and skilled personnel in Russian government roles in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine,” British military officials said this week. “It can be linked to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s plan to create a new administrative elite.”

It is the latest development in what U.K. intelligence analysts call the Russification of the legal and political framework in the occupied territories of Ukraine.

“Other similar measures to date include extending the Russian justice system, imposing a Russian education curriculum, issuing Russian passports and building Russian telecommunications infrastructure,” British officials said in their latest assessment of the battlefield in Ukraine.

The Russian Ministry of Justice also announced it’s setting up 58 federal penitentiaries across those occupied territories, British officials said Thursday.

• Mike Glenn can be reached at mglenn@washingtontimes.com.